Methods and apparatus for controlling fan devices

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments are directed to use of RF and WiFi control in a fan device to control fan status and speed and/or fan light on/off status and intensity. A customer premises includes a WiFi router through which WiFi communications can be sent from a WiFi capable device, e.g., a cell phone, to control the fan device and its various functions. While WiFi control is via a WiFi router in the home, the control signals normally do not traverse the Internet or another external network. In addition to WiFi control, control of the fan device can be via an RF control device, e.g., a wall mounted controller. In some embodiments, the fan device reports its state and/or changes in state due to received commands to a server, and the server generates a recommended normal control schedule and an away control schedule and then uses the schedules to control fan device.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefit of the filing date of U.S.Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/617,152 filed on Jan. 12, 2018 andSer. No. 62/617,274 filed on Jan. 14, 2018 each of which is herebyexpressly incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD

The present invention relates to fan devices, and more particularly, tomethods and apparatus for controlling devices using differentinterfaces, e.g., an RF interface and a WiFi interface.

BACKGROUND

Ceiling fans are often mounted in rooms to improve air circulationand/or provide cooling. In some cases lights are mounted on the fan.While the ability to separately control a fan motor and light aredesirable, such control if implemented using standard wired switchesrequires separate switches for the light and the fan motor.

In many cases, fans are mounted where a ceiling light was previouslylocated and thus while power, e.g., 120V, may be available at thelocation where the fan is being mounted connections to multiple switchesmay not be available. In such cases, the combined ceiling fan and lightfixture may receive power via a single wall switch with the power beingprovided to both the light and fan motor at the same time. In order toallow separate control of the light and fan motor switches pull cordsmay be included in the fan assembly with one switch being used tocontrol the light fixture and another being used to control the fanmotor.

While the use of pull cord controls of a fan and light are common, theyare not only unsightly but can pose potential safety issues. Danglingcords can accidently get caught on objects, people and/or even getentangled in the moving fan blades. With advancements in LED lighting itis often desirable to support variable lighting levels rather than asimple on/off light control. Similarly the ability to control the speedof a ceiling fan motor rather than simply turn the motor on and off canbe desirable.

In the interest of energy efficiency it can be desirable to support fanand/or light control according to a schedule which takes intoconsideration calendared events, work schedules and/or other conditionsso that a fan and/or light is not run needlessly when no one is around.To the extent that a schedule could be supported, it would be desirableif the schedule could be entered and implemented without the need for awired wall controller to provide control signals via a wire to the fanand/or light unit since wires can be difficult and/or costly to run.

In view of the above it should be appreciated that there is a need forimproved methods of controlling a fan and/or ceiling light. It would bedesirable if at least some of the improved methods and/or apparatuscould avoid the need for multiple wall switches wired separately to afan and a light. While not necessary for all embodiments it would bedesirable if fan and/or light control could support a wide range offunctions such as fan speed, fan direction, and/or light intensity inaddition to simple light and/or fan on/off operations.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments are directed to use of an RF and WiFi control in thefan device to control fan status and speed and/or fan light on/offstatus and intensity. The fan device includes both an RF interface and aWiFi interface. The customer premises includes a WiFi router throughwhich WiFi communications can be sent from a WiFi capable device, e.g.,a cell phone, to control the fan device and its various functions. WhileWiFi control is via a WiFi router in the home, the control signalsnormally do not traverse the Internet or another external network.Accordingly, WiFi control is possible without the need for a connectionto an external network or server. In addition to WiFi control, controlof the fan device can be via an RF control device, e.g., a wall mountedcontroller. In some embodiments 120V power is supplied to the fan devicevia the wall mounted controller. While 120V power may be supplied viathe wall controller, control signals from the wall mounted controllerare transmitted using RF signals to the RF interface of the fan device.The RF interface uses a different frequency band than the frequency bandused for WiFi signals sent to/from the WiFi router. In some embodimentsthe RF interface uses an unlicensed frequency spectrum which isdifferent than that used for WiFi signals.

Since the RF and WiFi control signals need not pass over an externalcommunications network as in the case of systems where commands mustfirst be sent to a network server outside a customer premises and thensent from the network server to the device to be controlled, the fandevice can be controlled either by the wall controller or a WiFi deviceeven if a connection to the Internet or another external network is notavailable.

In some, but not necessarily all embodiments, the fan device reports itsstate and/or changes in state due to received commands to a server,e.g., located outside the customer premises. The communication with theexternal server may be, and sometimes is, via a WiFi router and Internetconnection. The server logs the state information of one or more devicesat each customer premises it is associated with. The server generates,e.g., automatically, a recommended normal schedule based on historicaldevice state information including device on/off times, fan speedinformation and/or light intensity information. Machine learning andhistorical device state information may be, and sometimes is, used forgenerating the recommended schedule for a customer premises. Therecommended normal control schedule is communicated to an individual,e.g., a customer at the customer premises to which the schedule relates.The communication of the proposed schedule may be, and sometimes is,from the server via the Internet and WiFi router at the customerpremises to which the schedule relates. The customer can approve therecommended schedule and/or provide a revised normal schedule to be usedby the server to control devices at the customer premises.

In addition to generating a normal control schedule for a customerpremises, an away schedule to be used when a customer indicates that thecustomer premises is in an away state is generated. An away statecorresponds to when the normal occupants of the customer premises areaway from the customer premises. The away schedule is generated based ona random function so that devices will be turned on at somewhatrandomized times making it difficult for a potential burglar todetermine whether the devices are being controlled by an automatedsystem or by a human present at the premises. In some embodimentshistorical device use information is taken into consideration when theserver automatically generates the away schedule with the on/off timesbeing somewhat random but remaining within a reasonable time, e.g., 30minutes or an hour, of when the devices are turned on and off when ahuman is present.

While a user can control the devices while in the home via the RFcontroller or a WiFi controller without having to send commands outsidethe home, remote control of devices is also supported. A user can loginto the control server and once authenticated is allowed to send controlcommands to devices at the home via the control server and the WiFirouter. In this way a user can control devices while away from the home.In the case of commands sent via the server, the server can, andsometimes does, update device state information based on the commandssent from the server to the device to be controlled thereby eliminatingthe need for the device to report a state change to the server. While insome embodiments devices do not report state changes to the server whichare in response to commands communicated by the server to the devicebeing controlled, in other embodiments the devices being controlled,e.g., fan devices, routinely report a state change to the control serverregardless of whether the command was from the server, wall controlleror WiFi device in the home.

The customer to which a home corresponds can enable/disable use of acontrol schedule by the server. For example the user can send a signalto the control server to indicate that the normal control scheduleshould be used or the away schedule should be used or that no controlschedule should be used. The signal may indicate automated control is tobe set to off for the home, automated control should be on and, when theautomated control is on whether an away state is indicated indicatingthat the away schedule should be used or that the premises is in anormal state and thus the normal schedule should be used.

An exemplary control method, in accordance with some embodiments,comprises: receiving, at a fan device including a radio frequency signalreceiver and a WiFi interface, a first radio frequency (RF) controlsignal from a control unit, said fan device and said control unit beinglocated at a customer premises; implementing, at the fan device, anoperation in response to a first command communicated by the first RFcontrol signal; and operating the fan device to communicate to a serverlocated outside the customer premises, via the WiFi interface,information indicating the operation implemented in response to thefirst command.

In various embodiments a controller with an RF interface is used tocontrol a fan device which includes a fan motor and may also include alighting device. The controller in some embodiments is in the form of awall control module which may be, and sometimes is, mounted in astandard electrical wall box in a room in which the fan device to becontrolled is located. To simplify installation and avoid the need formore than the normal 120V power line used to power an outlet, from a120V AC prospective the controller acts as a simple pass through devicethrough which AC power is supplied to the fan device unit. As a safety,the controller includes an AC disconnect which can be used to cut allpower to the fan unit. The disconnect switch may be in the form of apush or pull switch or a pull tab which can interrupt the power to thefan device.

Control of the fan device is via an RF interface included in the wallcontroller. In some embodiments activation of the safety disconnectswitch will cut power to the RF interface of the wall controller inaddition to power to the fan device. In this way, in some but notnecessarily all embodiments, the safety cut off serves as a physicalkill switch integrated into the wall controller for both the wallcontroller and the fan device.

The wall controller includes inputs for controlling fan on/offoperations, light on/off operation, fan speed, e.g., up/down, and/orlight intensity, e.g., fan device light output up/down. In someembodiments light output and fan speed can be smoothly controlled, e.g.,with light intensity being controlled in a smooth fashion over a widerange of intensity values as opposed to simply a few discrete outputlevels. The wall controller transmits RF control signals to implement orcommunicate commands that are generated based on the pressing oraltering of the control inputs on the wall controller. The controlsignals are transmitted to the fan device using a RF frequency bandwhich is different from that used for WiFi signals at the customerpremise where the controller is located.

An exemplary fan device controller, in accordance with some embodiments,includes: an AC voltage input; an AC output for supplying power to a fandevice; an RF signal interface including an RF signal transmitter fortransmitting commands to a device to be controlled; an RF controller forcontrolling the RF signal interface to send control signals includingone or more commands to said fan device; and a disconnect switch fordisconnecting said AC output from said AC input when said disconnectswitch is switched to a disconnect state from a connect state.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a drawing of an exemplary system including controllable fandevices, wall control units, a wireless terminal, a WiFi router and acontrol server in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a drawing illustrating an exemplary wall control unit, e.g., afan device controller, including an RF interface in accordance with anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a drawing of an exemplary controllable fan device including acontrollable fan, a controllable light, an RF interface and a WiFiinterface in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4A is a first part of a drawing illustrating an exemplary fandevice system, exemplary signaling, and exemplary operations inaccordance with an exemplary control method.

FIG. 4B is a second part of a drawing illustrating an exemplary fandevice system, exemplary signaling, and exemplary operations inaccordance with an exemplary control method.

FIG. 4C is a third part of a drawing illustrating an exemplary fandevice system, exemplary signaling, and exemplary operations inaccordance with an exemplary control method.

FIG. 4D is a fourth part of a drawing illustrating an exemplary fandevice system, exemplary signaling, and exemplary operations inaccordance with an exemplary control method.

FIG. 4E is a fifth part of a drawing illustrating an exemplary fandevice system, exemplary signaling, and exemplary operations inaccordance with an exemplary control method.

FIG. 4, comprises the combination of FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4D, and FIG.4E.

FIG. 5 is a drawing of an exemplary control server in accordance with anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a drawing of an exemplary wireless terminal, e.g., asmartphone, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7A is a first part of an exemplary assembly of components which maybe included in an exemplary control server in accordance with anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7B is a second part of an exemplary assembly of components, whichmay be included in an exemplary control server in accordance with anexemplary embodiment.

FIG. 7 comprises the combination of FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B.

FIG. 8 is a drawing of an exemplary system including controllable fandevices, wall control units, a wireless terminal, a WiFi router and acontrol server in accordance with another exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a drawing of an exemplary AC power interface coupled to anexemplary DC power supply which may be used in the fan device of FIG. 3in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary wall mounted wireless terminal with RFand Wi-Fi interfaces in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary wall control unit including a safetyswitch in accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 is a drawing of an exemplary fan device system 100 in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment. Exemplary system 100 includes a pluralityof customer premises sites (customer premises 1 (CP 1) 102, . . . ,customer premises M (CP M) 104), Internet 106, and a control server 108coupled together as shown in FIG. 1. CP 1 102 includes a plurality offan devices, (fan device 1 110, . . . , fan device N 112), a pluralityof wall control units, e.g., fan device controllers, (wall control unit1 114, . . . , wall control unit N 116), a WiFi router 118, a wirelessterminal (WT 1) 120, e.g., a cell phone, an a 120 V power source 122,e.g., a power panel. In one embodiment 120V power panel 122 includes a20 A circuit breaker. Each wall control unit (114, 116) is configured tofit in an electrical box in a wall of a customer premises.

Wall control unit 1 114 includes RF interface 1 124, light on/off switch126, fan on/off switch 128, fan reverse switch 130, and safety switch(SS) 132. Wall control unit 1 114 is installed in electrical box 190 ofwall 191. In some embodiments, fan device 1 110 and wall control unit114 are both located in a first room in customer premises 1 102. Wallcontrol unit N 116 includes RF interface 2 134, light on/off switch 136,fan on/off switch 138, fan reverse switch 140, and safety switch (SS)142. Wall control unit N 116 is installed in electrical box 192 of wall193. In some embodiments, fan device N 112 and wall control unit N 116are both located in a second room in customer premises 1 102, the secondroom being a different room than the first room. Fan device stateinformation includes fan state information for fan motors and lightstate information for fan lights.

Control server 108 includes customer premises information correspondingto a plurality of customer premises (CP 1 information 144, . . . , CP Minformation 146) being controlled by the control server 108. Exemplarycustomer premises 1 114 information includes, e.g., historical stateinformation corresponding to fan devices located within customerpremises 1 102, an approved normal device control schedule for CP1, anda generated away device control schedule for CP1.

120 V input power is received by the power panel 122 via 120V powersource input lines 148, 150. The received input power is routed throughpower panel 122, e.g., passes through a circuit breaker, and is outputfrom the power panel 122, via lines 152, 154, which are input to thesafety shutdown switches (132, . . . 142) of the wall control units(114, . . . , 116) of CP 1 102.

The output of safety switch 132, when the switch is in a closedposition, powers the internal circuitry on wall control unit 114 and isfed, via lines (156 and 164, 158 and 166) to the input of fan device 1110. The output of safety switch 142, when the switch is in a closedposition, powers the internal circuitry on wall control unit N 116 andis fed, via lines (160 and 168, 162 and 170) to the input of fan deviceN 112.

RF interface 1 124 of wall control unit 1 114 communicates with fandevice 1 110 via RF signals 172. Fan device 1 110 communicates with WIFIrouter 118 via WiFi signals 176. RF interface N 134 of wall control unitN 116 communicates with fan device N 112 via RF signals 174. Fan deviceN 112 communicates with WIFI router 118 via WiFi signals 178.

WT 1 120 communicates with WiFi router 118 via WiFi signals 180. In someembodiments, e.g., embodiments supporting Wi-Fi direct, WT 1 120 maydirectly communicate with fan device 1 110 and fan device N 112 usingWiFi signals. WT 1 120 may, and sometimes does, communicate withdevices, e.g., control server 108, via the Internet and/or via anotherWiFi router or a base station when outside customer premises 1 102.

WiFi router 118 includes a WiFi interface, including a WiFi transmitter196 and a WiFi receiver 195, a network interface includes a receiver 197and a transmitter 198, a processor 199 and memory coupled together via abus over which the various elements may interchange data andinformation. WiFi router 118 communicates with WiFi devices (110, 112,120) at CP 1 102 via its WiFi interface using WiFi receiver 195 and WiFitransmitter 196. WiFi Router 118 of CP 1 102 communicates with theInternet via the network interface and link 182. A WiFi Router of CP M104 communicates with the Internet via link 184. Internet 106 is coupledto control server 108 via communications link 186.

FIG. 2 is a drawing 200 illustrating an exemplary wall control unit 202,e.g., a fan device controller, e.g., a fan/light controller, inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment. Exemplary wall control unit 202is, e.g., wall control unit 1 114 or wall control unit N 116 of CP 1 102of system 100 of FIG. 1. Wall control unit 202 includes a control panel204, a safety switch 206, an RF interface 208, a DC power supply 210, acontroller 212, an AC input 237, and an AC output 241, coupled togetheras shown in FIG. 2. In various embodiments, the wall control unit 202does not include a WiFi interface.

Control panel 204 includes a light on/off switch 214, a fan on/offswitch 216, a fan reverse switch 218, a light up switch 220, a lightdown switch 222, a fan speed up switch 224, and a fan speed down switch226. Light on/off switch 214, e.g., a push button switch, is a lightcontrol input for turning a light, e.g., a light in a fan device, on oroff. Light on/or switch 214 is coupled to controller 212 via line 248.Fan on/off switch 216, e.g., a push button switch, is a fan controlinput for turning a fan, e.g., a fan in a fan device, on or off. Fanon/off switch 216 is coupled to controller 212 via line 250. Fan reverseswitch 218, e.g., a push button switch, is a fan reverse input forchanging the rotation direction of a fan in a fan device. Fan reverseswitch 218 is coupled to controller 212 via line 252. Fan speed upswitch 224, e.g., a push button switch, is a fan speed up input forincreasing the speed of a fan in a fan device. Fan speed down switch226, e.g., a push button switch, is a fan speed down input fordecreasing the speed of a fan in a fan device. Light up switch 220,e.g., a push button switch, is a light up input for increasing the lightoutput from a light in a fan device. Light down switch 222, e.g., a pushbutton switch, is a light down input for decreasing the output of alight in a fan device. Fan speed up switch 224, fan speed down switch226, light up switch 220, and light down switch 222 are coupled tocontroller 212 via lines (258, 260, 254, 256), respectively.

RF interface 208 includes an RF transmitter 228 and, in someembodiments, an RF receiver 230, which are coupled to antenna 232, viawhich the wall control 202 may transmit and, in some embodiments,receive RF signals, e.g., to or from a fan device. Exemplary transmittedRF signals include, e.g., an RF control signal communicating a command.In some embodiments, the command is one of: a fan power state changecommand, a fan speed up command, a fan speed down command, a fandirection change command, a light power state change command, a lightincrease command, or a light decrease command. An exemplary received RFsignal includes, e.g., an acknowledgment of a transmitted command.

In various embodiments, the RF control signals which are sent by controlunit 202 to a fan device use an RF frequency which is not used for WiFisignals. In some embodiments, the RF control signals which are sent bycontrol unit 202 to a fan device use a different frequency band and adifferent protocol than the WiFi signals which are received by the fandevice.

120 V Input power lines 234, 236 are coupled, via AC input interface237, to the input of safety switch 206, e.g., a disconnect switch. Theoutputs of safety switch 206 are coupled to the input of DC power supply210 and to lines 238, 240, which are coupled, via AC output interface241, to a fan device via lines 242, 244. In FIG. 2, safety switch 206 isshown in the ON or closed position in which input AC power is suppliedto both the DC power supply 210 and to a fan device which is coupled tothe wall control unit 202. When the safety switch is placed in the openor OFF position or disconnect position, AC power is cutoff, e.g., notsupplied, to both the input of the DC power supply 210 of wall controlunit 202 and to the fan device coupled to wall control unit 202. Safetyswitch 206, e.g., a disconnect switch, is for disconnecting the ACoutput 241 from the AC input 237 when the switch 206 is switched to adisconnect state from a connect state. In some embodiments, safetyswitch 206, e.g., a disconnect switch, is in the form of a push or pullswitch or a pull tab which can interrupt the power to the fan device towhich the wall control unit 202 is coupled.

DC power supply 210, when receiving input AC power, generates andoutputs DC supply output 246, e.g., 3 VDC, which is input to and used byRF interface 208 and controller 212. In some embodiments, the DC powersupply 210 generates and outputs multiple DC voltages, e.g., 3 VDC, 5VDC, 15 VDC and −15 VDC, which are used by the controller 212 and the RFinterface 208. The DC power supply 210 is connected to switch 206 and tothe RF controller 212. The DC power supply 206 receives AC power fromthe disconnect switch 206 when switch 206 is in the closed position, andthe DC power supply 210 generates DC power from the received AC powerand supplies the DC power to the controller 212. If an operator switchesthe disconnect switch 206 to a disconnect state, power is cut off toboth AC output 241 and to the DC power supply 210 at the same time.

Controller 212, e.g., an RF controller, controls the RF interface 208including RF signal transmitter 228 to generate and transmit RF controlsignals over line 262 in response to detected control panel input buttondepressions. Lines can be, for example, wires or traces over whichelectrical signals can be communicated. RF signal transmitter 228transmits commands to a device, e.g., a fan device, being controlled.Controller 212, e.g., an RF controller, includes a processor 213configured to generate a command, e.g., (a light power state changecommand, a fan power state change command, a fan direction changecommand, a light increase command, a light decrease command, a fan speedup command, a fan speed down command) in response to received input viaan input (light control input 214, fan control input 216, fan reverseinput 218, light up input 220, light down input 222, fan speed up input224, or fan speed down input 226), respectively, and control the RFinterface 208 to transmit said generated command in a generated RFsignal to a fan device.

FIG. 3 is a drawing of an exemplary fan device 300, including a fan 303and a light 306, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. Exemplaryfan device 300 is, e.g., one of the fan devices (fan device 1 110, . . ., fan device N 112) of customer premises 1 102 of system 100 of FIG. 1.Fan 303 includes a fan motor 304, a fan blade unit 336 including fanblades and a hub, and fan motor shaft 338 which couples the fan motor304 to the fan blade unit. In various embodiments fan motor 304 is aBrushLess DC (BLDC) motor. Exemplary fan device 300 includes a fandevice mounting base 302, fan motor shaft 338 and fan blade unit 336.Fan unit mounting base 302 includes a fan motor 304, a light 306, e.g.,an LED light, a fan motor control circuit 308, a light control circuit310, a WIFI interface 312, an RF interface 314, a processor 316, memory318, an AC power interface 322 and a DC power supply 324. WIFI interface312 includes a WIFI transmitter 354 and a WIFI receiver 356, which arecoupled to antenna 313, via which the fan device 300 can send andreceive WiFi signals. Exemplary received WiFi signals communicate, e.g.,a fan device control command, and a proposed normal device controlschedule. Exemplary fan device control commands received via WiFireceiver 356 include, e.g., a fan on command, a fan off command, a fanpower state change command, a fan speed up command, a fan speed downcommand, a fan direction change command, a fan speed setting levelcommand, a light on command, a light off command, a light power statechange command, a light increase command, a light decrease command, anda light level setting command. In some embodiments, an exemplaryreceived WiFi signal, e.g., conveying a control message may, andsometimes does, include multiple commands, e.g., a light on command, afan on command, a fan direction command, a light level setting command,and a fan speed setting command. Exemplary transmitted WiFi signalscommunicate, e.g., fan device state information reporting messages,e.g., communicating light on/off status, light output level status, fanon/off status, fan speed, fan direction. RF interface 314 includes an RFreceiver 360, and in some embodiments, and RF transmitter 358, which arecoupled to antenna 315, via which the fan device 300 can send andreceive RF signals. Exemplary received RF signals include, e.g., signalscommunicating fan device control commands, e.g., from a wall controlunit 202. Exemplary control commands communicated via RF signalsinclude, e.g., a fan power state change command, a fan speed up command,a fan speed down command, a light power state change command, a fandirection change command, a light power state change command, a lightincrease command, and a light decrease command. Exemplary transmitted RFsignals include, e.g., fan device control acknowledgment signals. Invarious embodiments, the WiFi interface 312 and the RF interface 314 areconfigured to use different frequency bands, e.g., differentnon-overlapping frequency bands, and different communications protocols.In some embodiments, the same antenna is used for both the WiFiinterface 312 and the RF interface 314.

WiFi interface 312, RF interface 314, fan motor control circuit 308,light control circuit 310, processor 316 and memory 318 are coupledtogether via a bus 320 over which the various elements may interchangedata and information. Fan motor control circuit 308 includes an On/Offcontrol circuit 326, a fan direction control circuit 328, and a fanspeed control circuit 330. In some embodiments, the fan motor controlcircuit 308 includes an Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT) module,a processor, and analog feedback circuitry. The fan motor controlcircuit 308 is coupled to fan motor 308 via cable 350. Fan motor shaft338 couples the fan motor to the fan blades 336. Light control circuit310 includes an On/Off control circuit 332 and an Up/Down controlcircuit 334. The light control circuit 310 is coupled to light 306 viacable 352. Fan on/off control circuit 326 controls whether or not poweris applied to fan motor 304, e.g., in response to received fan powerstate change control commands, fan power on control commands, and fanpower off control commands. Fan direction control circuit 328 controlsthe direction fan motor 304 turns, e.g., in response to received fandirection change commands, and fan direction commands. Fan speed controlcircuit 330 controls the speed of fan motor 304, e.g., in response toreceived fan speed up commands, fan speed down commands, and fan speedsetting level commands. In various embodiments, the fan motor controlcircuit 308 is configured to control the fan to operate at apredetermined speed and direction when initially commanded to power onfrom an off state, unless specified otherwise, e.g., in a schedule or bya command. Light on/off control circuit 332 controls whether or notpower is applied to light 306, e.g., in response to a received lightpower state change control commands, light power on control commands,and light power off control commands. Light up/down control circuit 334controls the light output level of light 306, e.g., in response toreceived light increase commands, light decrease commands, and lightlevel setting commands. In some embodiments, the light level is changedby changing the voltage or current supplied to a light or a set oflights. In some embodiments, the light level is changed by changing thenumber of lights to which power is applied in a set of lights. Invarious embodiments, the light control circuit 310 is configured tocontrol the light 306 to operate at a predetermined output level wheninitially commanded to power on from an off state, unless specifiedotherwise, e.g., in a schedule or by a command.

Input AC, e.g., 120 VAC, is received from a wall control unit via inputs340, 342. AC power interface 322 conditions the received AC, e.g.,performing filtering, and outputs conditioned AC power on lines 344,346, which are used as input by other elements within fan device 300,e.g., the fan motor 304 or fan motor control circuit 308, the light 306or the light control circuit 310, and the DC power supply 324. DC powersupply 324 generates and outputs one or more DC voltages, e.g., 170 VDC,3.3 VDC, 16 VDC, 3 VDC, +5 VDC, 15 VDC, and/or −15 VDC from the input ACpower received via lines 344, 346. Output DC power is via DC power bus448 and the DC voltages are referenced with respect to DC ground 349. Insome embodiments, the DC power supply includes one of more currentsupplies in addition to one or more voltage supplies. DC power from DCpower supply 324 is supplied to and used by processor 316, memory 318,WiFi interface 312, RF interface 314, fan motor control circuit 308,light control circuit 310, and in some embodiments, light 306 and/or fanmotor 304. While known DC motor fan systems that are availableexperience problems when controlled over the same the same power run,e.g., when three fans are daisy chained together so that power isconnected to a first fan and from the first fan to a second fan and thena third fan, the third fan typically does not operate properly itexperiences being off kilter in time and speed on start, use of thecircuitry shown in FIG. 9 in connection with a DC motor results inproper operation of all three fans daisy chained together wherein smoothcontrol of fan operation in the three DC motors can be achieved.Furthermore, in some embodiments, in which a DC brushless motor wasutilized smooth control of fan motor operation was achieved without useof optical sensors in the motor control unit.

Processor 316 is configured to control the RF interface 314 including RFreceiver 360 to receive RF control signals, recover the control commandor commands being communicated and communicate the recovered controlcommand or commands to the fan motor control circuit 308 and/or lightcontrol circuit 310 or send information to the fan motor control circuit308 and/or light control circuit 310 to be used to implement therecovered control command or commands. Processor 316 is furtherconfigured to control the WiFi interface 312 including WiFi receiver 356to receive WiFi signals including messages communicating controlcommands, recover the control command or commands being communicated andcommunicate the recovered control command or commands to the fan motorcontrol circuit 308 and/or light control circuit 310 or send informationto the fan motor control circuit 308 and/or light control circuit to beused to implement the recovered control command or commands. Processor316 is further configured to generate device status reporting messagesand to control the WiFi interface including transmitter 354 to transmitWiFi signals including the device status reporting messagescommunicating device state information. In various embodiments,processor 316 is configured to generate and send a device statusreporting message, e.g., in response to a received and implemented RFcontrol signal or a received and implemented WiFi control message. Insome embodiments, the processor 316 is configured to limit timeintervals between successive device status reporting messages, e.g., toprevent excessive status reporting messages such as where an individualis pushing an input button on a wall control unit 202 multiple times invery short time interval. In one exemplary embodiment, a device statusreporting message is sent to a control server at most once perpredetermined time interval, e.g., once per two second time interval oronce per two minute time interval. In some embodiments, device statusreporting messages to the control server communicates a change from apreviously communicated device status reporting message. In variousembodiments, a device status reporting message can, and sometimes does,include an aggregate of multiple received and implemented commands. Invarious embodiments, a generated device status reporting messageincludes time tag information, e.g., a transmission time tag and/or atime tag or time tags corresponding to an implemented state change orchanges implemented at the fan device. In some embodiments, the fandevice includes a single circuit board that includes the WIFI interface312, RF interface 314, fan motor control circuit 308, light controlcircuit 310, AC power interface 322, DC power supply 324, memory 318 andprocessor 316.

FIG. 4, comprising the combination of FIG. 4A, FIG. 4B, FIG. 4C, FIG. 4Dand FIG. 4E, is a drawing 400, comprising Part A 401, Part B 403, Part C405, Part D 407 and Part E 409, illustrating exemplary components ofsystem 100 of FIG. 1, exemplary signaling and exemplary operations inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment. Drawing 400 includes customerpremises CP 1 102, the Internet 106, and control server 108. CP 1 102includes wall control unit 1 114, wall control unit N 116, fan device 1110, fan device N 112, and WiFi router 118. Fan device 1 110 includesfan 1 and light 1. Fan device N 112 includes fan N and light N. Wirelessterminal 120 is a mobile device, e.g., a cell phone, a laptop, a tablet,a smartphone, which is sometimes located within CP 1 102 and issometimes located outside of CP 1 102.

In one exemplary embodiment, fan device 1 110 and wall control unit 1116 are located in a first room, and fan device N 116 and wall controlunit N 116 are located in a second room, which is a different room fromthe first room. In some embodiments, the fan devices 110, 112, eachinclude a RF interface and a WiFi interface, while the wall controlunits 114, 116 each include a RF interface but do not include a WiFiinterface. In one exemplary embodiment, wall control unit 1 114, is awall mounted unit, which supplies power to fan device 1 110; and wallcontrol unit N 116, is a wall mounted unit, which supplies power to fandevice N 112.

In some embodiments, the RF and WiFi interfaces while both beingwireless interfaces are different interfaces and use different frequencybands and different communications protocols. In some embodiments, theRF interfaces use a sub-GHz frequency band, e.g., 315 MHz or 433 Mhz,and the WiFi interfaces use a 2.4 GHz frequency band. In someembodiments, the RF interfaces use ON OFF KEYING (OOK) 2 kSymbols/sec,Manchester Encoded protocol. In some embodiments, the WiFi interfacesuse a 802.11 b/g/n protocol.

Drawing 400 is an exemplary signaling diagram illustrating exemplarysignaling between the various devices and exemplary operations performedby the devices in accordance with an exemplary method.

In step 402 WC 1 114 generates and sends radio frequency (RF) controlsignal 404, e.g., a wireless RF signal, to fan unit 1 110 commanding fanunit 1 110 to change the power state of its fan. In some embodiments,the RF control signal 404 is sent using an RF signal which is not usedfor WiFi signals. In step 406 fan unit 1 110 receives signal 404 andrecovers the communicated command. Consider that the fan in fan device 1110 is currently off. In response to the received recovered command inRF signal 404, in step 408 fan unit 1 110 turns on its fan, which isfan 1. In step 410, fan device 1 110 generates and sends a reportingmessage 412 to WiFi router 1 114 reporting that fan 1 is on.

In one exemplary embodiment, the reporting message 412 includes: anidentifier identifying fan device being controlled, which in thisexample is fan device 1 110, information indicating the time the commandwas implemented, information indicating the operation performed by thefan device, which in this example is turning on the fan in fan device 1110, and information identifying the customer premises, which in thisexample is CP1 102. Other reporting messages described in this signalingflow diagram may also use this exemplary reporting format. The reportingallows the server 108, which is the intended end point recipient of thereporting message information, to create a log of the state of fandevice 1 and create a history of the state of the device. Recorded stateinformation corresponding to multiple fan devices at CP1 may be used tofacilitate learning of use patterns and thereby allow for automatedschedule generation for both normal and away schedules both of which maybe, and sometimes are, machine learning based on the informationreported to the control server 108 in system 100.

In step 414 WiFi router 118 receives message 412 and recovers thecommunicated information. In step 416 WiFi router 118 generatesreporting message 418, indicating that fan 1 is on, and sends message418, via the Internet 106, to control server 108. In step 420 controlserver 108 receives message 418 and recovers the communicatedinformation, originally sourced from fan device 1, which indicates thatthe fan 1 in fan device 1 is on. In step 421 control server 108 updatesthe customer premises 1 (CP1) information to record that fan 1 is on andthe time.

In step 422 WC 1 114 generates and sends RF control signal 424 to fandevice 1 110 commanding fan unit 1 110 to change the power state of itslight, which is light 1. In step 426 fan unit 1 110 receives RF signal424 and recovers the information communicated. Consider that light 1 isin an OFF state. In response to the recovered command of signal 424, instep 428 fan device 1 110 turns on light 1. In step 430, fan device 1110 generates and sends a reporting message 432 to WiFi router 1 118reporting that light 1 is on. In step 434 WiFi router 118 receivesmessage 432 and recovers the communicated information. In step 436 WiFirouter 118 generates reporting message 438, indicating that light 1 ison, and sends message 438, via the Internet 106, to control server 108.In step 440 control server 108 receives message 438 and recovers thecommunicated information, originally sourced from fan device 1, whichindicates that light 1 is on. In step 441 control server 108 updates thecustomer premises 1 (CP1) information to record that light 1 is on andthe time.

In step 442 WC 1 114 generates and sends RF signal 444 to fan device 1110 commanding fan device 1 110 to perform a fan power state change. Instep 446 fan device 1 110 receives signal 444 and recovers theinformation communicated, and in response in step 448 fan device 1 110turns off fan 1. In step 450, fan device 1 110 generates and sends areporting message 452 to WiFi router 1 118 reporting that fan 1 is off.In step 454 WiFi router 118 receives message 452 and recovers thecommunicated information. In step 456 WiFi router 118 generatesreporting message 458, indicating that fan 1 is off, and sends message458, via the Internet 106, to control server 108. In step 460 controlserver 108 receives message 458 and recovers the communicatedinformation, originally sourced from fan device 1 110, which indicatesthat fan 1 is off. In step 462 control server 108 updates the customerpremises 1 (CP1) information to record that fan 1 is off and the time.

In step 464 WC 1 114 generates and sends RF signal 466 to fan device 1110 commanding fan device 1 110 to perform a power state change of itslight, which is light 1. In step 468 fan device 1 110 receives signal466 and recovers the information communicated, and in response in step470 fan device 1 110 turns off light 1. In step 472, fan device 1 110generates and sends a reporting message 474 to WiFi router 1 118reporting that light 1 is off.

In step 476 WiFi router 118 receives message 474 and recovers thecommunicated information. In step 478 WiFi router 118 generatesreporting message 480, indicating that light 1 is off, and sends message480, via the Internet 106, to control server 108. In step 482 controlserver 108 receives message 480 and recovers the communicatedinformation, originally sourced from fan device 1 which indicates thatlight 1 is off. In step 484 control server 108 updates the customerpremises 1 (CP1) information to record that light 1 is off and the time.

In step 486 WT 1 120, which is a device supporting WiFi communications,generates and sends WiFi control signal 487 to WiFi router 118commanding fan device 1 110 to turn on its light, which is light 1. Instep 488 WiFi router 118 receives signal 487 and recovers theinformation communicated. In step 489 WiFi router 118 generates andsends WiFi signal 490 to fan device 1 110 communicating the command toturn on its light. In step 491 fan device 1 110 receives signal 490 andrecovers the information communicated, and in response in step 492 fandevice 1 110 turns on light 1. Thus the control command of signal 487 iscommunicated from WT 1 120, which is a WiFi device currently locatedwithin CP1 102, to fan device 110, located at CP1 102, via WiFi router118, also located at CP1 102, without the command traversing a networkoutside the customer premises CP1 102. Thus in some embodiments, atleast some times, the communication of a command, e.g., in a WiFisignal, to a fan device does not depend or involve communication over anetwork outside the customer premises, and the fan device can becontrolled from within the CP, e.g., house, via WiFi even if an Internetor server connection to the server is not present or available.

In step 494, fan device 1 110 generates and sends a reporting message496 to WiFi router 1 118 reporting that light 1 is on. In step 498 WiFirouter 118 receives message 496 and recovers the communicatedinformation. In step 500 WiFi router 118 generates reporting message502, indicating that light 1 is on, and sends message 502, via theInternet 106, to control server 108. In step 504 control server 108receives message 502 and recovers the communicated information,originally sourced from fan device 1 110, which indicates that light 1is on. In step 506 control server 108 updates the customer premises 1(CP1) information to record that light 1 is on and the time.

In step 508 WT 1 120 generates and sends WiFi signal 509 to WiFi router118 commanding fan device 1 110 to turn on its fan. In step 510 WiFirouter 118 receives signal 509 and recovers the communicatedinformation. In step 511, WiFi router 118 generates and sends WiFisignal 512 to fan device 1 110 communicating the fan 1 on command. Instep 513 fan unit 1 110 receives signal 512 and recovers the informationcommunicated, and in response in step 514 fan device 1 110 turns onfan 1. In step 516, fan device 1 110 generates and sends a reportingmessage 518 to WiFi router 1 114 reporting that fan 1 is on. In step 520WiFi router 118 receives message 518 and recovers the communicatedinformation. In step 522 WiFi router 118 generates reporting message524, indicating that fan 1 is on, and sends message 524, via theInternet 106, to control server 108. In step 526 control server 108receives message 524 and recovers the communicated information,originally sourced from fan device 1 110, which indicates that fan 1 ison. In step 528 control server 108 updates the customer premises 1 (CP1)information to record that fan 1 is on and the time. Although thecontrol messages and reporting message, corresponding to fan device 1110, have been shown for on/off examples, in some embodiments, thecontrol messages which are sent may control other operations, e.g.,increase light intensity of light 1, decrease light intensity of light1, increase fan speed of fan 1, decrease fan speed of fan 1, change fandirection of fan 1, and the reporting messages may report device statusor device status change in response to those commands.

Exemplary on/off device control signaling, state changes, reporting, andrecording of device status in control server 108, has been shown overtime, for a few examples, for fan device 1 110 including fan 1 andlight 1. It should be appreciated that similar signaling and operationsare performed with regard to the other fan devices, e.g., fan device N112, located at customer premises 1 102, and control server 108 alsorecords and builds up a historical record corresponding to statusincluding state information of the other fan devices located at CP1 102,e.g., fan device N 112, over time.

In step 530, the control server 108 generates a proposed normal devicecontrol schedule for customer premises 1 102, e.g., based on historicalrecorded information. The generated proposed normal control schedule forCP1 is a fan and lighting control schedule for controlling the fandevices at CP1 including, e.g., on/off fan control schedule, on/offlight control schedule, fan speed schedule, fan direction schedule, andlight intensity schedule. In some embodiments, the proposed normaldevice control schedule is generated based on stored informationincluding the state of one or more fan devices (fan device 1 110, . . ., fan device N 112) at CP1 102 over a period of time, e.g., two or moreweeks, e.g., based on collected stored reporting messages from the fandevices (110, . . . , 112) over the time period. In step 532, thecontrol server generates a message 533 communicating the generatedproposed normal device control schedule and sends the generated messageto WiFi router 118, via Internet 106.

In step 534 the control server 108 generates an away device controlschedule for CP1 102, e.g., random based or based on historical use withrandomization. In various embodiments, server 108 generates the awayschedule to be used to control one or more fan devices (110, . . . ,112) at CP1 102 when the customer indicates that they are away from thecustomer premises 102. In some embodiments, operating the control server108 to generate an away schedule includes generating said away scheduleas a function of a random function used to at least partially randomizethe on or off times of one or more devices. In some embodiments,operating the server 108 to generate the away schedule includes usinginformation about past device on and off status in combination with saidrandom function to control the on and off times as a function of atleast one device, said on and off times deviating from historical on andoff times by an amount of time which does not exceed a set maximumamount of time, e.g., 30 minutes, and which is determined by said randomfunction. For example, once the historical on/off times of a light onthe fan device are known the random function is used to change theon/off time in a random function but keep it within 30 minutes or so ofthe normal on/off time so that the on/off pattern is not identical fromday to day but within an expected normal range that might occur to ahuman getting home or moving around the home which would not beidentical each day but might not deviate greatly, e.g., by more than anhour, from day to day. In step 535 control server 108 stores thegenerated away device control schedule for CP1 102.

In step 536, WiFi router 118 receives message 533 and recovers theinformation in message 533 including the proposed normal device controlschedule. In step 538, WiFi router 118, generates a message 540including the proposed normal device control schedule and sends themessage 540 to WT 1 120. Thus the generated proposed normal devicecontrol schedule has been communicated from control server 108, via theInternet 106 and WiFi router 118, located at CP1, to device WT 1 120corresponding to the first customer premises. WT 1 120 is, e.g., thecell phone, e.g., a smartphone, of a user who is located at the firstcustomer premises 102.

In step 542, WT 1 120 receives message 540 recovers the proposed normalcontrol schedule and presents the proposed normal device controlschedule to the user of WT 1 120. In some embodiments, the user ofdevice 1 120 may decide to revise the proposed normal device controlschedule. In step 544, WT 1 120 receives user input revisions andgenerates a revised normal device control schedule. In step 546, WT 1120 generates a message 548 communicating user authorization for theproposed normal device control schedule or a revised normal devicecontrol schedule and sends message 548 to WiFi router 118. In step 550,WiFi router 118 receives message 550 and recovers the communicatedinformation. In step 552 WiFi router 118 generates message 554communicating the user authorization for the proposed normal devicecontrol schedule or the user revised normal device control schedule andsends message 554 via Internet 106 to control server 108.

In step 556, the control server receives message 554 and recovers thecommunicated user authorization for the proposed normal device controlschedule or the communicated revised normal device control schedule. Ifuser authorization is received for the suggested normal controlschedule, the control server 108 designates the generated suggestedcontrol schedule as a normal approved device control schedule. If arevised normal device control schedule is received, the control server108 designates the received revised schedule as the normal approveddevice control schedule. In step 557 the control server stores theapproved normal control schedule.

In step 558, the control server 108 starts operating in accordance withthe approved normal device control schedule, e.g., to automaticallycontrol operations at fan device 1 110 and fan device N 112 of CP1 102.In various embodiments, operating the control server 108 in accordancewith the stored approved normal control schedule includes operating theserver 108 to control one or more of the fan devices (110, . . . , 112)at CP1 102 based on the normal approved device control scheduleincluding transmitting a control signal from control server 108 to fandevice 1 110 via the Internet 106 and WiFi router 118 to control fandevice 1 to take an action at a time indicated in the normal approveddevice control schedule, e.g., to control the fan of fan device 1 110 toturn on at a time indicated by the normal approved device controlschedule.

In some embodiments, the control server 108 will switch to automaticoperations in accordance with the approved normal device controlschedule based on the reception of message 554, e.g., once the proposedschedule is approved the control server starts using the approved normaldevice control schedule.

In some embodiments, the control server 108 will not switch to automaticoperations in accordance with the approved normal device controlschedule until receiving an additional message, e.g., a normal devicecontrol schedule activation message from a user, e.g., the user whichapproved the proposed normal schedule or sent the revised normalschedule. In some embodiments, the user may send server 108, e.g., fromdevice WT 1 120, a message communicating one or more time intervals inwhich the control server 108 is to operate in accordance with theapproved normal device control schedule and/or one or more timeintervals in which the control server 108 is to operate in accordancewith the away schedule and/or one or more time intervals in which thecontrol server 108 is not to use either the normal schedule or the awayschedule but is to allow just wall control units and user devices suchas WT 1 to control the fan devices at CP1.

In step 559, the control server 108, operating in accordance with thenormal approved control schedule, generates and sends control signal 560including one or more control commands, via Internet 106, to WiFi router118 to automatically control fan 1 and/or light 1 of fan device 1 110based on the normal authorized device control schedule. In step 561 thecontrol server 108 updates fan device 1 state information based on thecontrol commands sent in message 560. In step 562, the WiFi router 118receives control signal 560 and recovers the communicated information,e.g., control command or commands directed to fan device 1 110. In step564, the control server generates and sends control signal 566 toautomatically control fan 1 and/or light 1 of fan device 1 110. In step568, fan device 1 110 receives control signal 566 and recovers thecontrol information communicated. In step 569 fan device 1 110 performsan action or actions in response to one or more recovered controlcommands in the received WiFi signal 566, e.g., turns off fan 1, turnsoff light 1, reverses the direction of fan 1, increases fan 1 speed,decreases fan 1 speed, sets fan 1 speed to a particular value, increaseslight 1 intensity, decreases light 1 intensity, sets light 1 intensityto a particular level, etc.

In step 570, the control server 108, operating in accordance with thenormal approved control schedule, generates and sends control signal 572including one or more control commands, via Internet 106, to WiFi router118 to automatically control fan N and/or light N of fan device N 112based on the normal approved device control schedule. In step 571 thecontrol server 108 updates fan device N state information based on thecontrol commands sent in message 572. In step 574, the WiFi router 118receives control signal 572 and recovers the communicated information.In step 576, the WiFi router 118 generates and sends control signals 578to automatically control fan N and/or light N to fan unit N 112. In step580, fan unit N 112 receives control signals 578, recovers the controlinformation, e.g., control command or commands communicated in signal578. In step 581 fan device N 112 performs an action or actions inresponse to the one or more received and recovered control commands inWiFi control signal 578, e.g., turns on fan N, turns off fan N, turns onlight N, turns off light N, reverses the direction of fan N, increasesfan N speed, decreases fan N speed, increase light N intensity,decreases light N intensity, sets the speed of fan N to a particularlevel, sets the light output level of light N to a particular level,etc.

Although only one arrow is shown for control signal 560, andcorresponding forwarded control signal 566, to illustrate one example,it should be appreciated that many different control signals, e.g.,individual control signals may be, and in some embodiments, are sent atdifferent times to achieve different desired states of operation of fanunit 1, in accordance with the normal authorized device controlschedule. Although only one arrow is shown for control signals 572, andcorresponding forwarded control signals 578, it should be appreciatedthat many different control signals, e.g., individual control signalsmay be, and in some embodiments, are sent at different times to achievedifferent desired states of operation of fan unit N, in accordance withthe normal authorized schedule.

In step 582, based on received user input, WT 1 120 generates a signal584 indicating that the away device control schedule should be used tocontrol the fan units at customer premises 1, and WT 1 120 sends thesignal 584 to WiFi router 118. In some embodiments, signal 584 conveysan away status indicator from the user of user device WT 1 120. In step586, WiFi router 118 receives signal 584, recovers the communicatedinformation. In step 588 WiFi router 118 generates and sends signal 590including information indicating that the control server should use theaway schedule for customer premises 1, via Internet 106, to controlserver 108. In step 592 control server 108 receives signal 590 andrecovers the communicated information, e.g., the away status indicator,indicating that the away schedule should now be used for CP1. In step594, in response to received message 590, the control server 108switches to automatic control of the fan units at customer premises 1based on the away device control schedule. Thus the control server 108switches from using the stored approved normal schedule to using thestored away schedule to control the one of more fan devices (110, . . ., 112) at the first customer premises.

In step 596, the control server 108, operating in accordance with theaway device control schedule, generates and sends control signal 598including one or more control commands, via Internet 106, to WiFi router118 to automatically control fan 1 and/or light 1 of fan device 1 110based on the away device control schedule. In step 599 the controlserver 108 updates fan device 1 state information based on the controlcommands sent in message 598. In step 600, the WiFi router 118 receivescontrol signal 598 and recovers the communicated information, e.g.,control command or commands directed to fan device 1 110. In step 602,the control server 108 generates and sends control signal 604 toautomatically control fan 1 and/or light 1 of fan device 1 110. In step606, fan device 1 110 receives control signal 604, recovers the controlinformation communicated. In step 607 fan device 1 110 performs anaction or actions in response to one or more recovered control commandsin the received WiFi control signal 606, e.g., turns off fan 1, turnsoff light 1, reverses the direction of fan 1, increases fan 1 speed,decreases fan 1 speed, sets fan 1 speed to a particular value, increaseslight 1 intensity, decreases light 1 intensity, sets light 1 intensityto a particular level, etc, said recovered control commands having beenoriginally sent from control server 108.

In step 608, the control server 108, operating in accordance with theaway device control schedule, generates and sends control signal 610including one or more control commands, via Internet 106, to WiFi router118 to automatically control fan N and/or light N of fan device N 112based on the away device control schedule. In step 611 the controlserver 108 updates fan device N state information based on the controlcommands sent in message 610. In step 612, the WiFi router 118 receivescontrol signal 610 and recovers the communicated information. In step614, the control server generates and sends control signals 616 toautomatically control fan N and/or light N to fan unit N 112. In step618, fan unit N 112 receives control signals 616, recovers the controlinformation, e.g., control command or commands communicated in signal616. In step 619 fan device N 112 performs an action or actions inresponse to the one or more received and recovered control commands inWiFi control signal 578, e.g., turns on fan N, turns off fan N, turns onlight N, turns off light N, reverses the direction of fan N, increasesfan N speed, decreases fan N speed, increases light N intensity,decreases light N intensity, sets the speed of fan N to a particularlevel, sets the light output level of light N to a particular level,etc, said recovered control commands having been originally sent fromcontrol server 108.

Although only one arrow is shown for control signal 598, andcorresponding forwarded control signal 604, to illustrate one example,it should be appreciated that many different control signals, e.g.,individual control signals may be, and in some embodiments are, sent atdifferent times to achieve different desired states of operation of fanunit 1, in accordance with the away device control schedule. Althoughonly one arrow is shown for control signal 610, and correspondingforwarded control signal 616, it should be appreciated that manydifferent control signals, e.g., individual control signals may be, andin some embodiments are, sent at different times to achieve differentdesired states of operation of fan unit N, in accordance with the awayschedule.

In step 620, based on received user input, WT 1 120 generates a signal622 indicating that the away device control schedule, used to controlthe fan units at customer premises 1, and WT 1 120, should be disabledand that the approved normal device control schedule should be usedagain, sends the generated signal 622 to WiFi router 114. In step 624,WiFi router 118 receives signal 622, recovers the communicatedinformation. In step 626 WiFi router 118 generates and sends signal 628including information indicating that the control server should disableuse of the away schedule for customer premises 1 and resume using theapproved normal device control schedule, via Internet 106, to controlserver 108. In step 630 control server 108 receives signal 628 andrecovers the communicated information indicating that the away scheduleshould no longer be used for CP1 102 and that the normal schedule shouldnow be used. In step 632, in response to received message 628, thecontrol server 108 switches to automatic control of the fan devices 110,112 at customer premises 1 102 based on the normal authorized approveddevice control schedule.

In step 634, the control server 108, operating in accordance with thenormal approved control schedule, generates and sends control signal 635including one or more control commands, via Internet 106, to WiFi router118 to automatically control fan 1 and/or light 1 of fan device 1 110based on the normal authorized device control schedule. In step 636 thecontrol server 108 updates fan device 1 state information based on thecontrol commands sent in message 635. In step 638, the WiFi router 118receives control signal 635 and recovers the communicated information,e.g., control command or commands directed to fan device 1 110. In step640, the WiFi router 118 generates and sends control signal 642 toautomatically control fan 1 and/or light 1 of fan device 1 110. In step644, fan device 1 110 receives control signal 642, recovers the controlinformation communicated. In step 645 fan device 1 110 performs anaction or actions in response to one or more recovered control commandsin the received WiFi signal 642, e.g., turns off fan 1, turns off light1, reverses the direction of fan 1, increases fan 1 speed, decreases fan1 speed, sets fan 1 speed to a particular value, increases light 1intensity, decreases light 1 intensity, sets light 1 intensity to aparticular level, etc.

In step 646, the control server 108, operating in accordance with thenormal approved control schedule, generates and sends control signal 647including one or more control commands, via Internet 106, to WiFi router118 to automatically control fan N and/or light N of fan device N 112based on the normal approved device control schedule. In step 648 thecontrol server 108 updates fan device N state information based on thecontrol commands sent in message 647. In step 650, the WiFi router 118receives control signal 647 and recovers the communicated information.In step 652, the control server generates and sends control signals 656to automatically control fan N and/or light N to fan unit N 112. In step658, fan unit N 112 receives control signals 656, recovers the controlinformation, e.g., control command or commands communicated in signal656. In step 659 fan device N 112 performs an action or actions inresponse to the one or more received and recovered control commands inWiFi control signal 656, e.g., turns on fan N, turns off fan N, turns onlight N, turns off light N, reverses the direction of fan N, increasesfan N speed, decreases fan N speed, increases light N intensity,decreases light N intensity, sets the speed of fan N to a particularlevel, sets the light output level of light N to a particular level,etc.

In FIG. 4E, it may be observed that mobile WT 1 120 has moved to alocation outside CP1 102. In various embodiments, an authorized usercan, and sometimes does, control fan devices from outside the customerpremises at which the fan devices are located. Consider that theoperator of WT 1 120 is authorized to control fan devices 110, 112 fromlocations outside customer premises 1 102. WT 1 120 may, and sometimesdoes, request and receive fan device status information for CP1 102,while outside CP1. In step 660 WT 1 120 generates and sends a devicecontrol signal 662 for controlling fan device 1 110 to control server 1108, e.g., via the Internet 106. In step 664, control server 108receives signal 662 and recovers the communicated information, e.g., acommand to turn on light 1 of fan device 1 110 and/or another command orcommands. In step 666, control server 108 determines, e.g., based onreceived authorization information, that it will serve as a relay torelay the received device control signal command to fan unit 1 110. Instep 668, the control server 108 generates and sends device controlsignal 670, conveying the control command or commands received in signal662, to WiFi router 118, with the destination of the information beingfan device 1 110. Some embodiments include step 671, in which thecontrol server 108 updates fan device 1 state information based on thecommand or commands in transmitted signal 670, in response totransmitting signal 670. Thus in this example, state information isupdated without receiving a report of the command being implemented atfan device 1 110.

In step 672, WiFi router 118 receives device control signal 670. In step674 WiFi router 118 generates and sends device control signal 676, whichincludes the received command or commands being relayed, to fan device 1110, thus communicating the control command or command in signal 662, tofan device 1 110. In step 678 fan device 1 110 receives signal 676,recovers the communicated command or commands. In step 679 fan device 1110 implements the received recovered command or commands, e.g., turnson light 1 of fan device 1 110. In some embodiments, fan device 1 110 instep 680 generates and sends acknowledgment signal 681 to server 108,which is received in step 682. Some embodiments include step 683, inwhich the control server 108 updates fan device 1 state informationbased on the commands in transmitted signal 670 and the reception ofacknowledgment signal 681, in response to receiving the acknowledgmentsignal 681 in step 682. In step 684, server 108 generates and sendsacknowledgment signal 685, which is a forwarded version ofacknowledgment signal 681, to WT 1 120. In step 686 WT 1 120 receivesacknowledgment signal 685 and has confirmation that the command ofsignal 662 has been received and/or acted upon.

FIG. 4E illustrates control of fan device 1 110 via a remotely locateddevice, WT 1 120, which may be a cellphone, e.g., a smartphone, which iscurrently located outside the customer premises 1 102, which sends acontrol signal through the control server 108 for delivery to fan device1 110. For example, WT 1 120 is a smartphone that connects to theInternet 106 via a cellular signal and sends the command over thecellular channel to the control server 108 via the Internet 106. In thecase where the control signal passes through the control server 108, thefan device 110 being controlled may not send back a message reportingimplementation of the communicated command and the server 108 can updatethe state information based on the knowledge that the fan device 1 110was instructed to perform the operation and/or optionally, anacknowledgment from the fan device 1 110 indicating that the controlmessage was received and/or acted up.

FIG. 5 is a drawing of an exemplary control server 700 in accordancewith an exemplary embodiment. Control server 700 is, e.g., controlserver 108 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 4. Control server 700 includes aninterface 702, a processor 704, e.g., a CPU, memory 706, an assembly ofcomponents 708, e.g., assembly of hardware components, e.g., assembly ofcircuits, coupled together via a bus 710 over which the various elementsmay interchange data and information. Interface 702 includes a receiver714 and a transmitter 712. Interface 702 couples the control server tothe internet and/or other networks and/or devices.

Memory 706 includes an assembly of components 716, e.g., an assembly ofsoftware components, e.g., software modules. Data/information 718includes information corresponding to a plurality of customer premises(customer premises 1 information 720, . . . , customer premises Minformation 722). Customer premises 1 information 720 includes receivedfan device 1 reporting messages 724, . . . , received fan device Nreporting messages 726, a generated proposed normal device controlschedule for CP1 728, and a generated away device control schedule forCP1 730. In some embodiments, CP1 data/information 720 includes arevised normal device control schedule 732, e.g., based on userrevisions to the proposed schedule. CP1 information 720 further includesfan device 1 state information 736, fan device N state information 738,a current control mode of operation with regard to controlling the fandevices at CP1 740, e.g., use the approved normal device controlschedule, use the away device control schedule, or do not performautomatic control at the current time, a received message 742 indicatinguser selection of mode, or a user command to switch modes, or usercommunicated indicator indicating whether or not the user is away whichis utilized to determine mode selection. CP 1 information furtherincludes a received control message 744, e.g., from a WT of anauthorized user, to be forwarded to a fan device indicated in thereceived message to control the fan device, and a generated controlmessage 746 in accordance with (IAW) the normal or away schedule, saidgenerated message to be sent to a fan device at an appropriate time inaccordance with the normal or away schedule.

FIG. 6 is a drawing of an exemplary wireless terminal (WT) 800, e.g., asmartphone, in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. Exemplary WT 800is, e.g., WT 1 120 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 4.

Exemplary WT 800 includes a WiFi interface 802, a cellular wirelessinterface 804, a wired interface 806, a processor 808, memory 810, anI/O interface 812 coupled to display 814, e.g., a touchscreen display,keypad 816, and an assembly of components 818, e.g., an assembly ofhardware components 818, e.g., an assembly of circuits. The variouselements 802, 804, 806, 808, 810, 812, 818 are coupled together via abus 820 over which the various elements may interchange data andinformation.

WiFi interface 802 includes a WiFi transmitter 832 and a WiFi receiver834 coupled to antennas (833, 835), respectively, via which the WT 800may transmit and receive WiFi signals. Cellular wireless interface 804includes a wireless transmitter 836 and a wireless receiver 838 coupledto antennas (837, 839), respectively, via which the WT 800 may transmitand receive wireless cellular signals. In some embodiments, the sameantenna is used for one or more transmitters and/or receivers. Wiredinterface 806 includes network transmitter 840 and a network receiver842 via which the WT 800 may transmit and receive signals, e.g., via awired connection to the Internet and/or to other nodes.

Memory 810 includes routines 822 and data/information 824. Routines 822includes a wireless terminal control routine 826, and a fan devicecontrol application 828. Fan device control application 828 includes anassembly of components 830, e.g., an assembly of software components,for performing different functions related to fan device control, fandevice status monitoring, setup and initialization, user authorization,communications with a fan device, communications with a control server,user interfaces, etc. Fan device control application 828 controls WT 800to present one or more custom interfaces to the user of WT 800, e.g.,via smartphone display 814, which allows the user to control fandevices. In some embodiments, one exemplary control display simulatesthe input of control panel 204 of wall control unit 202, e.g., acceptinginputs for: an on/off fan power transition command, a fan reversecommand, a fan speed increase command, a fan speed decrease command, anon/off light power transition command, a light output increase command,and a light output decrease command. In some embodiments, one exemplarycontrol display is configured to accept inputs for the followingcommands: a fan on command, a fan off command, a light on command, alight off command, a fan reverse command, a fan direction selectioninput command, a fan speed level setting command, a light intensitylevel setting command, a fan speed increase command, a fan speeddecrease command, a light intensity increase command, a light intensitydecrease command, a light intensity change rate command, e.g., allowinga smooth gradual light intensity specified change over a specified timeperiod, and a fan speed change rate command, e.g., allowing a smoothgradual fan speed level change over a specified time period. In variousembodiments, the fan device control application 828 receives usercommand inputs, generates control messages and sends the controlmessages to either the fan device, e.g., via WiFi signaling, or to acontrol server for forwarding to the fan device to be controlled, e.g.,depending on the location of the WT 800. Fan device control app 828 isfurther configured to operate WT 800 to: receive a proposed normaldevice control schedule from a control server, present the receivedproposed schedule to a user, receive user approval of the schedule,receive user revisions, generate a revised schedule incorporating therevisions, and generate and send an approval message or a revisedschedule to the control server. Fan device control app 828 is furtherconfigured to operate the WT 800 to: receive user input indicating thata user desires that one or more fan devices be controlled in accordancewith the normal approved device control schedule, the away schedule, ormanually via WT 800 input and/or a wall control panel, e.g., for aspecified period of time, and communicate the user input to the controlserver, e.g., to control switching between normal schedule automaticdevice control, away schedule automatic device control, and no automaticcontrol. In some embodiments, the application 828 generates and sendsindicators, e.g., an away indicator or a home indicator, e.g., based onuser input, to control switching between normal and away device controlschedules. Fan device control app 828 is further configured to controlWT 800 to send a request for fan device status, e.g. fan device stateinformation such as on/off status of a fan, on/off status of a light,light intensity output level, fan direction, and fan speed, to a fandevice and/or to the control server, to receive fan device statusinformation, and to present the received fan device status informationto a user of WT 800, e.g., on display 814. In some embodiments, currentfan device status information is presented concurrently with an inputcontrol interface on the display, e.g., on the smartphone screendisplay.

FIG. 7, comprising the combination of FIG. 7A and FIG. 7B, is a drawingof an assembly of components 900, comprising Part A 901 and Part B 903,which may be included in an exemplary control server, e.g., controlserver 108 of FIG. 1 and FIG. 4 or control server 700 of FIG. 5 inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment.

Assembly of components 900 may be included in an exemplary server, e.g.,control server 700. The components in the assembly of components 900can, and in some embodiments are, implemented fully in hardware within aprocessor, e.g., processor 704, e.g., as individual circuits. Thecomponents in the assembly of components 900 can, and in someembodiments are, implemented fully in hardware within the assembly ofhardware components 708, e.g., as individual circuits corresponding tothe different components. In other embodiments some of the componentsare implemented, e.g., as circuits, within processor 704 with othercomponents being implemented, e.g., as circuits within assembly ofcomponents 708, external to and coupled to the processor 704. As shouldbe appreciated the level of integration of components on the processorand/or with some components being external to the processor may be oneof design choice. Alternatively, rather than being implemented ascircuits, all or some of the components may be implemented in softwareand stored in the memory 706 of the server 700, with the componentscontrolling operation of server 700 to implement the functionscorresponding to the components when the components are executed by aprocessor e.g., processor 704. In some such embodiments, the assembly ofcomponents 900 is included in the memory 706 as assembly of softwarecomponents 716. In still other embodiments, various components inassembly of components 900 are implemented as a combination of hardwareand software, e.g., with another circuit external to the processorproviding input to the processor which then under software controloperates to perform a portion of a component's function.

When implemented in software the components include code, which whenexecuted by a processor, e.g., processor 704, configure the processor toimplement the function corresponding to the component. In embodimentswhere the assembly of components 900 is stored in the memory 706, thememory 706 is a computer program product comprising a computer readablemedium comprising code, e.g., individual code for each component, forcausing at least one computer, e.g., processor 704, to implement thefunctions to which the components correspond.

Completely hardware based or completely software based components may beused. However, it should be appreciated that any combination of softwareand hardware, e.g., circuit implemented components may be used toimplement the functions. As should be appreciated, the componentsillustrated in FIG. 9 control and/or configure the server 700 orelements therein such as the processor 704, to perform the functions ofvarious steps in an exemplary method illustrated and/or described withrespect to the signaling diagram 400 of FIG. 4 and/or described withrespect to any of the Figures or text including the lists of exemplaryembodiments. Thus the assembly of components 900 includes variouscomponents that perform functions of corresponding one or more describedand/or illustrated steps of an exemplary method, e.g., one or more stepsof the method of FIG. 4.

Assembly of components 900 includes a component 902 configured toreceive reporting messages sent from fan devices, e.g., communicatingfan device identification information, customer premises identificationinformation, commands received at the fan device, operations performedat the fan device in response to received commands, fan device statusinformation, e.g., fan device state information, e.g., fan on or fanoff, fan speed, fan direction, light on or off, light intensity level,etc., and time information, e.g., time a command was received at the fandevice, time an operation was performed in response to a receivedcommand, time information corresponding to state information included inthe reporting message, and/or transmission time corresponding toreporting message. In some embodiments, a reporting message may, andsometimes does include aggregated information corresponding to multiplecommands. Assembly of components further includes a component 904configured to store information communicated in received reportingmessages from the fan devices. In some embodiments, as part of receivinga reporting message the message reception time is also recorded andstored.

Assembly of components 900 further includes a component 906 configuredto generate a proposed normal device control schedule from storedinformation indicating the state of one or more devices at a customerpremises over a period of time, e.g., over two or more weeks, acomponent 908 configured to send a generated proposed normal devicecontrol schedule for a customer premises to device corresponding to thecustomer premises, and a component 912 configured to generate an awayschedule to be used to control one or more devices at a customerpremises when the customer indicates that they are away from thecustomer premises. In some embodiments, component 912 includes acomponent 914 configured to generate said away schedule as a function ofa random function used to at least partially randomize the on or offtimes of one or more devices. In some embodiments, component 914includes a component 916 configured to use the information about pastdevice on and off status in combination with said random function tocontrol the on and off times for at least one device, said on and offtimes deviating from historical on and off times by an amount of timewhich does not exceed a maximum amount of time, e.g., 30 minutes, andwhich is determined by the random function. Assembly of components 900further includes a component 918 configured to store a generated awaydevice control schedule corresponding to a customer premises, acomponent 920 configured to receive a message indicating approval of aproposed normal device control schedule or a revised normal devicecontrol schedule, and a component 922 configured to store an approvednormal device control schedule for a customer premises, said approvedschedule being either the proposed normal device control schedule or thereceived revised normal device control schedule.

Assembly of components 900 further includes a component 924 configuredto control one or more devices at a customer premises based on thestored approved normal device control schedule corresponding to thecustomer premises. Component 924 includes a component 926 configured toidentify and send a command to a fan device at the customer premises viathe internet and a WiFi router to control the fan device based on thenormal approved device control schedule. Assembly of components 900further includes a component 928 configured to control one or moredevices at a customer premises based on the stored away device controlschedule corresponding to the customer premises. Component 928 includesa component 930 configured to identify and send a command to a fandevice at the customer premises via the internet and a WiFi router tocontrol the fan device based on the away device control schedule.

Assembly of components 900 further includes a component 932 configuredto update information about the state of a fan device at a customerpremises based on a command communicated to the fan device in accordancewith an approved normal device control schedule or an away devicecontrol schedule, a component 934 configured to update information aboutthe state of a fan device at a customer premises based on a command,e.g., a received command from a user device of an authorized user who iscurrently located outside the customer premises, said command beingforwarded to the fan device by the control server acting as a relaydevice. Assembly of components 900 further includes a component 936configured to receive a signal from a user indicating an away statuscorresponding to a customer premises and a component 938 configured toswitch from using a stored normal device control schedule to using astored away device control schedule based on a received away statusindicator.

FIG. 8 is a drawing of an exemplary system 100′ including controllablefan devices (110′, . . . , 112′), wall control units (114′, . . . ,116′), a wireless terminal 120′, a WiFi router 118′ and a control server108′ in accordance with another exemplary embodiment. System 100′ ofFIG. 8 is similar to system 100 of FIG. 1 and similar components andsimilar signaling have been indicated using an apostrophe, e.g., fandevice 1 110′ of FIG. 8 is similar to fan device 1 110 of FIG. 1. Thereare several differences between the system 100 of FIG. 1 and system 100′of system 8.

Wall control unit 1 114′ of system 100′ of FIG. 8 controls multiple fandevices (fan device 1 110′ and fan device N 112′), provided power isavailable to those fan devices. This may be observed by RF controlsignaling 172′ going from RF interface 1 124′ to fan device 1 110′ andRF control signaling 172″ going from RF interface 1 124′ to fan device N112′. Wall control unit N 116′ can only control fan device N 112′, asshown by RF signal 174′ going from RF interface N 134′ to fan device N.In comparison, in system 100 of FIG. 1, wall control unit 1 114 controlsfan device 1 110, and wall control unit N 116 controls fan device N 112.

In system 100 of FIG. 1, input power to each wall control unit (114,116) is sourced from the same source (lines 152, 154). Safety switch 132can be used to cut off power to fan device 1 110. Safety switch 142 canbe used to cutoff power to fan device N 112.

In contrast, in system 100′ of FIG. 8, input AC power to wall controlunit N 116′ is sourced from the AC output of wall control unit 1 (lines164′, 166′). Thus in the system 100′ of FIG. 8, the safety switch 132′of wall control unit 1 114′ can be used to cut power to fan device 1110′ and fan device N 112′, and then turn input power on andreinitialize the system. This approach is useful to allow wall controlunit 1 114′ to reinitialize both fan devices and synchronize theiroperation so that control commands sent via RF signals from RF interface124′ of wall control unit 1 114′ will affect both fan device 1 110′ andfan device N 112′ in the same manner.

In addition, in system 100′ of FIG. 8, safety switch (SS) 142′ can beused to cut off power to just fan device N 112′.

In one exemplary embodiment N=6, and wall control unit 1 114′ can, andsometimes does, control 6 fan devices (fan device 1 110′, fan device 2,fan device 3, fan device 4, fan device 5, fan device 6 112′) to turn ontheir fans, at the same time, via a command, e.g., a commandcommunicated in an RF control signal sent from wall control unit 1 114′.In some such embodiments, all 6 fans are being powered from the same ACline, e.g., the same 20 A AC input power line. In some such embodiments,the 6 fans, e.g., Brushless DC motor fans, do not include an opticalencoder, magnetic encoder, e.g., resolver or synchro, or Hall effectsensor. In various embodiments, (fan device 1 110′, fan device 2, fandevice 3, fan device 4, fan device 5, fan device 6 112′), which can be,and sometimes are, turned on concurrently while on the same input powerline, each include an exemplary AC power interface including: avaristor, a common mode choke, an X capacitor, and two Y capacitors. Insome embodiments, the AC power interface of each fan device includes amulti-layer board, e.g., a 4 layer circuit board, in which one copperlayer is connected to earth ground. In some embodiments, the 6 fandevices may, and sometimes do, include one or more 10 ft ceiling fans.In some embodiments, each of the 6 fan devices includes a 10 ft ceilingfan.

In another embodiment, N=10, and wall control unit 1 114′ can, andsometimes does, control 10 fan devices (fan device 1 110′, . . . , fandevice 10 112′) to turn on their fans, at the same time, via a command,e.g., a command communicated in an RF control signal sent from wallcontrol unit 1 114′. In some such embodiments, all 10 fans are beingpowered from the same AC line, e.g., the same 20 A AC input power line.In some such embodiments, the 10 fans, e.g., Brushless DC motor fans, donot include an optical encoder, magnetic encoder, e.g., resolver orsynchro, or Hall effect sensor. In some embodiments, the 10 fan devicesmay, and sometimes do, include one or more 10 ft ceiling fans. In someembodiments, each of the 10 fan devices includes a 10 ft ceiling fan.

FIG. 9 is a drawing 1000 of an exemplary AC power interface 322′ coupledto an exemplary DC power supply 324′ which may be used in the fan device300 of FIG. 3 in accordance with an exemplary embodiment. In someembodiments, AC power interface 322′ is AC power interface 322 of fandevice 300 of FIG. 3, and DC power supply 324′ is DC power supply 324 offan device 300 of FIG. 3.

AC power, e.g., 90-264 VAC 47-63 Hz input via 16 AWG wires, is input viaL terminal 342, and N (Neutral) terminal 340, and G terminal 343 isconnected to earth ground. The line connected to L terminal is referredto a Line IN and Line IN is fused, with fuse F1 1002, e.g., a 3.15 Afuse. After the fuse F1 1002, there are several components, varistor RV11004, common mode choke L1 1006, and capacitors C5 1008, C7 1010 and C111012, which contribute to the AC filtering, and produce a filtered AC.

Varistor RV1 1004 is, e.g., a 510V 2.5 KA DISC 10 MM varistor,suppresses voltage spikes. Common mode choke L1 1006, e.g., a 15 MH 1 A2LN TH common mode choke, plays an important role in the system in thatit that actually helps with line noise entering and exiting the fandevice 300, which includes receivers. Line noise is coupled within thechoke 1006 to remove the noise from the AC line.

Capacitors C5 1008, C7 1010, and C11 1012 suppress high frequency noise.Capacitor C5 1008, which is a X capacitor, shunts the high frequencynoise across the input AC lines (L 1007, N 1009). Capacitor C7 1010,which is a Y capacitor, shunts the high frequency noise on the AC L line1007 to earth ground 1011. Capacitor C11 1012, which is a Y capacitor,shunts the high frequency noise on the AC N line 1009 to earth ground1011. In one exemplary embodiment, C5 1008, C7 1010, and C11 1012 are0.22 UF 20% 760 RAD capacitors. In another embodiment, C5 is a 220 microFarad 275 VAC capacitor; C7 is a 820 pF 1000V capacitor and C11 is a 820pF 1000V capacitor.

DC power supply 324′ includes full bridge rectifier BR1 1014, capacitorsC6 1016, C4 1018, and DC/DC converter circuits and filters 1020, whichare coupled together as shown in FIG. 9. In one embodiment, capacitor C61016 and capacitor C4 1018, which are across the outputs (1015, 1017) ofBR1 1014, are each 82 micro Farad 400V electrolytic capacitors. BR11014, is a Full bridge rectifier BR1 1014, e.g., a GPP 10 A 1000V GBUrectifier bridge, takes the filtered AC from lines (1007, 1009) andmakes a DC BUS, V BUS 1022, with respect to DC ground 329, across itsoutputs 1015, 1017. In one exemplary embodiment, the DC Bus 1022 voltageis approximately 170 VDC with respect to DC ground 329, in the case of afiltered 120 VAC input to BR1 1014. For example, DC Bus voltage=RMS(AC)*sqrt(2). In some embodiments, the DC Bus 1022 voltage, e.g., 170VDC, is used directly to provide power to the fan motor. From the DCVBUS voltage, e.g., of approximately 170 VDC, other DC rail voltages arecreated. DC VBUS voltage 1022 is used as input to DC/DC convertercircuits and filters 1022, which generates a plurality of DC outputvoltages (DC output voltage 1 1024, . . . , DC output voltage N 1026),which are utilized by the fan device 300. In various embodiments, thegenerated plurality of DC output voltages includes a 16 VDC supply and a3.3 VDC supply. In various embodiments, basic filtering is implemented,e.g., including decoupling and bypass capacitors, before and after eachsupply.

In various embodiments, the exemplary AC power interface 322′ coupled toan exemplary DC power supply 324′ of FIG. 9 does not include a NegativeTemperature Coefficient (NTC) InRush Protection device.

In some embodiments, fan device 300 including the AC power interface322′ and DC power interface 324′, uses a four layer board and the ACpower interface section 322′ has an internal layer, e.g., a copperinternal layer, referenced to earth ground. Having an adjacent copperlayer like this, which is reference to earth ground, also helps tocouple noise out of the system.

Various aspects and/or features of some, but not necessarily all,embodiments, are further discussed below.

Various embodiments are directed to use of an RF and WiFi control in afan device, e.g., fan device 300, to control fan 303 status and speedand/or fan light 306 on/off status and intensity. The fan device 300includes both an RF interface 314 and a WiFi interface 312. The customerpremises, e.g., customer premises 1 102, includes a WiFi router 118through which WiFi communications can be sent from a WiFi capabledevice, e.g., a cell phone 120, to control the fan device 300 and itsvarious functions. While WiFi control is via a WiFi router 118 in thehome, the control signals normally do not traverse the Internet 106 oranother external network. Accordingly, WiFi control is possible withoutthe need for a connection to an external network or server 108. Inaddition to WiFi control, control of the fan device 300 can be via an RFcontrol device 200, e.g., a wall mounted controller. In some embodiments120V power is supplied to the fan device 300 via the wall mountedcontroller 202. While 120V power may be supplied via the wall controller202, control signals from the wall mounted controller 202 aretransmitted using RF signals to the RF interface 314 of the fan device300. The RF interface 314 uses a different frequency band than thefrequency band used for WiFi signals sent to/from the WiFi router 118.In some embodiments the RF interface 314 uses an unlicensed frequencyspectrum which is different than that used for WiFi signals.

Since the RF and WiFi control signals need not pass over an externalcommunications network as in the case of systems where commands mustfirst be sent to a network server outside a customer premises, e.g., CP1102, and then sent from the network server to the device to becontrolled, the fan device 300 can be controlled either by the wallcontroller 202 or a WiFi device even if a connection to the Internet oranother external network is not available.

In some, but not necessarily all embodiments, the fan device 300 reportsits state and/or changes in state due to received commands to a server,e.g., control server 108, e.g., located outside the customer premises102. The communication with the external server 108 may be, andsometimes is, via a WiFi router 118 and Internet 106 connection. Theserver 108 logs the state information of one or more devices, e.g., fandevice 1 110 and fan device N 112, at each customer premises it isassociated with. The server 108 generates, e.g., automatically, arecommended normal schedule based on historical device state informationincluding device on/off times, fan speed information and/or lightintensity information. Machine learning and historical device stateinformation may be, and sometimes is, used for generating therecommended schedule for a customer premises. The recommend normalcontrol schedule is communicated to an individual, e.g., a customer atthe customer premises to which the schedule relates. The communicationof the proposed schedule may be, and sometimes is, from the server 108via the Internet 106 and WiFi router 118 at the customer premises, e.g.,CP 1 102, to which the schedule relates. The customer can approve therecommended schedule and/or provide a revised normal schedule to be usedby the server 108 to control devices at the customer premises.

In addition to generating a normal control schedule for a customerpremises, an away schedule to be used when a customer indicates that thecustomer premises is in an away state is generated. An away statecorresponds to when the normal occupants of the customer premises areaway from the customer premises. The away schedule is generated based ona random function so that devices, e.g. fan device 1 110, . . . , fandevice N 112, will be turned on at somewhat randomized times making itdifficult for a potential burglar to determine whether the devices arebeing controlled by an automated system or by a human present at thepremises, e.g., CP 1 102. In some embodiments historical device useinformation is taken into consideration when the server, e.g., controlserver 108, automatically generates the away schedule with the on/offtimes being somewhat random but remaining within a reasonable time,e.g., 30 minutes or an hour, of when the devices are turned on and offwhen a human is present.

While a user can control the devices, e.g., a fan device 300, while inthe home via the RF controller 202 or a WiFi controller, e.g., includingin WT 1 120, without having to send commands outside the home, remotecontrol of devices, e.g., fan devices, is also supported. A user canlogin to the control server 108 and once authenticated is allowed tosend control commands to devices, e.g., fan devices 110, 112 at the homevia the control server 108 and the WiFi router 118. In this way a usercan control devices, e.g., fan devices 110, 112, while away from thehome. In the case of commands sent via the server 108, the server 108can, and sometimes does, update device state information based on thecommands sent from the server 108 to the device, e.g., device 110, to becontrolled thereby eliminating the need for the device, e.g., device 110to report a state change to the server 108. While in some embodimentsdevices, e.g., fan devices 110, 112, do not report state changes to theserver 108 which are in response to commands communicated by the server108 to the device, e.g., fan device 110, being controlled, in otherembodiments the devices being controlled, e.g., fan devices 110, 112,routinely report a state change to the control server 108 regardless ofwhether the command was from the server 108, wall controller 202 or WiFidevice, e.g., WT 120, in the home.

The customer to which a home corresponds can enable/disable use of acontrol schedule by the server 108. For example the user can send asignal, e.g., via WT 1 120, to the control server 108 to indicate thatthe normal device control schedule should be used or the away devicecontrol schedule should be used or that no control schedule should beused. The signal may indicate automated control is to be set to off forthe home, automated control should be set to on for the home, and, whenthe automated control is on whether an away state is indicatedindicating that the away schedule should be used or that the premises isin a normal state and thus the normal schedule should be used.

In various embodiments a controller, e.g., wall control unit 202, withan RF interface 208 is used to control a fan device, e.g., fan device300, which includes a fan motor 304 and may also include a lightingdevice, e.g., light 306. The controller 202 in some embodiments is inthe form of a wall control module which may be, and sometime is, mountedin a standard electrical wall box, e.g., box 190, in a room in which thefan device, e.g., fan device 300, to be controlled is located. Tosimplify installation and avoid the need for more than the normal 120 vpower line used to power an outlet of light, from a 120V AC prospectivethe controller 202 acts as a simple pass through device through which ACpower is supplied to the fan device unit 300. As a safety, thecontroller 202 includes an AC disconnect 206 which can be used to cutall power to the fan device unit 300. The disconnect switch 206 may bein the form of a push or pull switch or a pull tab which can interruptthe power to the fan device 300.

Control of the fan device 300 is via an RF interface 208 included in thewall controller 202. In some embodiments activation of the safetydisconnect switch 206 will cut power to the RF interface 208 of the wallcontroller 202 in addition to power to the fan device 300. In this way,in some but not necessarily all embodiments, the safety cut off 206serves as a physical kill switch integrated into the wall controller 202for both the wall controller 202 and the fan device 300.

The controller 202 includes inputs (216, 214, 224, 226, 220, 222, 218)for controlling fan on/off operations, light on/off operations, fanspeed, e.g., up/down, and/or light intensity, e.g., fan device lightoutput up/down, and fan direction. In some embodiments light output andfan speed can be smoothly controlled, e.g., with light intensity beingcontrolled in a smooth fashion over a wide range of intensity value asopposed to simply a few discrete output levels. The wall controller 202transmits RF control signals to implement or communicate commands thatare generated based on the pressing or altering of the control inputs(214, 216, 218, 220, 222, 224, 226) on the wall controller 202. Thecontrol signals are transmitted to the fan device 300 using a RFfrequency band which is different from that used for WiFi signals at thecustomer premises where the controller 202 is located.

In some embodiments, the wireless terminal 120 is not a mobile devicebut is instead a wall mounted device which is mounted in the customerpremises in which one or more fan devices, e.g., fan devices 1 110, . .. , fan device N 112 are located. The wall mounted wireless terminal,may, and in some embodiments does, include a touch screen display uponwhich menus are presented to a user through which the user can selectoptions to control the operation of one or more functions of the fandevices located at the customer premises, such as the light intensity,fan speed, fan direction, light on/off, fan on/off for one or more ofthe fans located at the customer premises.

FIG. 10 illustrates several different perspective views of an exemplarywall mounted wireless terminal in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention. Illustrated in FIG. 10 is a first perspective view1102 of a wall mounted wireless terminal showing its touchscreen 1108and an exemplary user menu. The second perspective view 1104 of the wallmounted wireless terminal shows an angled side view of the wall mountedwireless terminal. The third perspective 1106 shows a view of the backof the wireless wall mounted terminal.

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary wall control unit with a safety switchin accordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 11 illustrates a front perspective view of an exemplary wallcontrol unit 1202 with a safety switch in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment of the present invention and a side view 1204 of the sameexemplary wall control unit. The wall control unit 1202 includes a lightcontrol on/off button 1206, a light up (increase light intensity) button1208 and a light down (decrease light intensity) button 1210, a fanon/off button 1212, a fan increase speed button 1214, a fan decreasespeed button 1216, a fan reverse direction button 1218 and a mechanicalemergency/safety cut off switch 1220.

In some embodiments, a full calendar year (e.g., 365 day) schedulerapplication in the control server allows a user to store settings,instructions and commands for the operation of one or more of a set offans devices included on a customer premises with the fan devices thenbeing automatically controlled by the control server in accordance withthe user inputted settings, e.g., timing as to when to turn on and offthe fan, turn on and off the light, set direction of the rotation of thefan blades, setting of the light intensity, setting of the fan speed,etc.

In some embodiments as previously discussed, the control server includessoftware instructions which when executed by a processor of the controlserver operate the control server to generate a recommended customer fandevice schedule for an upcoming time period, e.g., one or more days, oneor more weeks, or one or months, for controlling the operation of one ormore functions or events, e.g., light on/off, light intensity, fanon/off, fan speed, fan direction, for one or more fan devices located ata customer premises based on historical fan device state informationgathered over a time frame, e.g., a plurality of days, weeks, or months.The generated recommended customer fan device schedule, e.g., a weeklyschedule of fan device events, is then transmitted by the control serverto the fan device via the Internet. The fan device receives and storesthe generated customer fan device schedule on its memory. A copy of thefan device recommended schedule also being retained in the memory of thecontrol server. A user may then access the local copy of the recommendedfan device schedule, e.g., the weekly fan device event schedule,residing in the fan device from a wireless terminal via WiFi anddetermine whether to accept or modify the recommended schedule. To theextent that the user modifies the recommended schedule the modificationsto the schedule are transmitted from the fan device to the controlserver to update the weekly schedule for the fan device in the controlserver. The processor of the fan device will then automatically operatethe fan device to perform the functions/events on the weekly schedulewhich have been approved by the user, that is if the user opt in to therecommended schedule. The fan device functions/events perform includefor example, turning the fan on on a specific day at a specific time,turning off the fan on a specific day at a specific time, turning on thelights on specific days at specific times, setting the light intensityto a specific level when the light is turned on, setting the fan speedand direction when the fan is turned on, or turning off the light on aspecific day at a specific time. A user may also decide to not opt in tothe recommended schedule or to modify the schedule but to instead leavethe fan device in a manual mode of operation for certain days of theweek or the whole week. Storing a weekly schedule of fan device eventson the device that may be automatically executed by the fan device ifchosen by a user to operate in an automatic mode of operation providesthe benefit that if the WIFI router or internet connection to thecontrol server becomes disabled the processor of the fan device canstill operate the fan device in accordance with the automated weeklyschedule as selected or programmed by the user whereas if the controlserver is the only device to maintain the weekly schedule then when theconnection between the control server and the fan device is interruptedor fails the processor of the fan device will not properly operate thefan device in accordance with the user approved weekly schedule.

A few exemplary embodiments of how the control server identifiespatterns of events and uses machine learning to generate recommendedschedules will now be discussed.

For example, the control server will be operated to identify patterns ofevents, e.g., light on, light off, light intensity setting, fan on, fanoff, fan speed, fan direction, occurring a specified number of times Nwithin a time frame, where N is an integer number, e.g., 3. The timeframe may be, and in some embodiments is, a plurality of consecutiveweeks such as for example 3 weeks. Identification of patterns of dailyevents may be, and in some embodiments are, based on the same eventoccurring at the same time or approximately the same time (e.g., withina time window such as +/−15 minutes) on a number M of consecutive daysto not become intrusive, where M is integer number, e.g., M=3. Weeklyevents will be identified over the course of the time frame, e.g., threeweek period. For example, if the fan device is controlled to perform aparticular function or event, e.g., the fan of the fan device is turnedon at 8 p.m. Tuesday of week one of the time frame, the fan of the fandevice is turned on at 8:06 p.m. Tuesday of week two of the time frame,and the fan of the fan device is turned on at 7:54 p.m. on week three ofthe time frame then the control server after analyzing the historicalfan device state data for the 3 week period time frame identifies thefunction or event as being a pattern, e.g., turning on the fan of thefan device at approximately 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday as the fan device's fanis turned on within a 15 minute window of 8 p.m. each Tuesday, 8 p.m.being the average of the fan turn on time of the three repetitive eventsidentified by the control server. The control server generates arecommendation that the fan for the fan device whose state data wasanalyzed to determine the event pattern is to be turned on at Tuesday at8 p.m. The recommendation of time fan turn on of 8 p.m. being theaverage of the time of the fan turn on event occurrence for the threeevents identified in the pattern.

In another example, a fan of a fan device is turned on Monday at 8 p.m.,Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. and Wednesday at 7 p.m. of the same week, that ison three consecutive days. The control server after analyzing thehistorical state data for the fan device will identify the turn on ofthe fan of the fan device on the three consecutive days as a pattern ofevent fan turn on of the fan device. In the case of identifying apattern of events for consecutive days, the time window for the sameevent to occur on consecutive days may be, and in some embodiments is,different than the window for an event occurring on the same day forconsecutive weeks as discussed in the previous example. In this exampleinstead of a 15 minute window, an exemplary 60 minute window is used.The control server on determining that a pattern of turning on the fanof the fan device on three consecutive days within a 60 minute windowhas occurred generates a recommendation that the fan of the fan devicebe turned on at 8 p.m. as an option for a daily schedule. The 8:00 p.m.time of the fan turn on recommendation being generated based on the timeof occurrence of the events forming the identified pattern whichoccurred on the three consecutive days. In this example, the 8:00 p.m.time recommended for fan turn on of the fan device being the average ofthe 8:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. fan turn on event times of thethree events in the identified pattern.

In yet another example, the fan of a fan device is turned on everyMonday, Wednesday and Friday at 8:00 p.m. The same happens on week twoand three of the three week time frame. The control server identifiesthe fan turn on events as a pattern and generates a recommended schedulebased on the pattern of turning on the fan on the days and at the timesthe fan was turned on. For example, the control server recommends in aweekly schedule to turn on the fan of the fan device on Monday,Wednesday and Friday at 8:00 p.m. in a succeeding week.

In some, but not all, embodiments, the control server waits till the endof the time frame, e.g., 3 weeks, to analyze the fan device historicalstatus information, identify patterns of events and generate arecommended schedule, e.g., a weekly recommended schedule of events forthe fan device, based on the identified pattern of events. In some otherembodiments, the control server identifies patterns of events on anon-going basis over the time frame, e.g., 3 weeks, as events areoccurring using current and historical event status data for the fandevice to identify fan device event patterns. The control server canthen either generate a recommended schedule on an on-going basis or waittill end of the time frame to generate a recommended schedule. In someembodiments, after the first time frame, e.g., 3 weeks, expires, thecontrol server uses a sliding time frame window to identify new eventpatterns and generate a new recommended schedule. For example, with theexpiration of the first 3 week time frame, the control server identifiesfan device event patterns and generates a recommended schedule. With asliding time frame window of one week, the second time frame willconsist of the last two weeks of the first time frame and the first weekafter the expiration of the first time frame. In this way, the controlserver will identify event patterns and generate a second recommendedschedule at the end of a fourth consecutive week based on the historicalevent status data for the fan device of the three most recent weeks. Inthis way, recommended schedules are generated on a weekly basis usingthe three most recent weeks fan device even status data.

As previously discussed, in most, but not all embodiments, therecommended weekly schedule for each of the fan devices in a customerpremises after being generated is transmitted from the control server tothe fan device to which the weekly schedule pertains for customer reviewand/or modification and/or approval. This assumes that the customer hasopted into using a weekly schedule to control the operation of the fandevice and has selected to review a recommended schedule of fan deviceevents. The automated weekly schedule and the recommended schedule canbe cancelled at any time by the user through the input of a cancellationrequest via a control menu presented on the remote wireless WiFi controldevice. While the generation of recommended schedules and the operationof an automated schedule of events for a single fan device has beendiscussed, the control server also generates recommended schedules ofevents for groups of fan devices. The automated schedules for a timeperiod, e.g., a weekly schedule is also available to automaticallycontrol the operation of groups of fans. For example, in a manufacturingfacility a group of fans of a set of fan devices may be automaticallyturned on before the beginning of the work day. E.g., starting up fansof each device of a group of fan devices concurrently at 6:30 p.m. at aparticular speed, then turning on the lights at 6:45 p.m. before theworkers arrive at 7:00 a.m. and turning off the fans and lights at 8:00p.m. after the manufacturing facility is closed for the day. Similarly,the automated weekly schedule set the fan schedules to off on Saturday,Sunday and identified holidays.

In addition to automated operation of the fan device based on apre-programmed schedule of fan device events, e.g., a weekly 7-dayschedule or 365 day (366 on leap year) schedule of fan device events, insome embodiments, the fan device can also be programmed to take actionsin response to the fan device receiving one or more inputs, e.g.,signals from one or more sensors or devices that provide data on thecurrent environmental conditions of the customer premises such as forexample the temperature of the customer premises and/or the room inwhich the fan device is located, whether the air conditioning system ison or off, or whether the heating system is on or off. For example, thefan device may be, and in some embodiments does, offer two modes ofautomatic operation of the fan device in connection with the HVAC systemon the customer premises. In the first mode of operation, the fan deviceturns on the fan automatically a specified time, e.g., five minutes,after the fan device receives a message or signal indicating that theheating or air conditioning system is turned off, e.g., HVAC turns offfive minutes after the fan device turns the fan on to a preset speed anddirection set by the user. In a second mode of operation, the fan of thefan device is turned on to a preset speed and direction automaticallywhen the fan device receives a message or signal indicating that theheating or air conditioning system has turned on and the fan of the fandevice turns the fan off automatically after a preset amount of time,e.g., five minutes, after receiving a message or a signal that theheating or air conditioning system has turned off. The use of the fandevice assists the distribution of either the cold or hot air providedby the HVAC system.

In some embodiments, the fan device is set to turn on or offautomatically based on the temperature in the customer premises. Forexample after receiving a signal or message indicating a temperature inor on the customer premises, the processor of the fan device or thecontrol server compares the temperature to a temperature thresholdvalue, e.g., 80 degrees Fahrenheit, and if temperature exceeds thetemperature threshold value the fan device is operated to turn on thefan if it is not already on. In some additional embodiments, the speedand direction of the fan of the fan device is also automatically setwhen temperatures corresponding to fan speed threshold are exceeded. Forexample when 80 degrees Fahrenheit is exceed the fan speed is set tolow, when 85 degrees Fahrenheit is exceeded the fan speed is increased,when 90 degrees Fahrenheit is exceeded the fan speed is increased again.

In some embodiments, the control server receives messages indicating theenvironmental conditions at the customer premises and/or the activationor deactivation of the heating or air conditioning system, compares theenvironmental conditions and/or state of the heating or air conditioningsystem, and sends one or more commands/messages to the fan device toturn on or off the fan of the fan device and set the speed and directionof the fan thereby automatically controlling the fan device inaccordance with settings of the fan device inputted by a user withoutthe fan device requiring separate sensor inputs.

In some embodiments, the fan device is configured to be updateable viaover the air (OTA) updates allowing for future features and enhancementsto be downloaded into the fan device from the control server or anotherdevice. Similarly the applications being executed on the wireless WiFiterminals may be updated over the air.

As previously discussed in some embodiments, multiple fan devices aregrouped together allowing for the control of all of the fan devices inthe group at one time. For example, a first set of fan devices at acustomer premises may be placed in a first group, e.g., fan devices onthe first floor of a house may be placed in a first group such as fandevices in a living room, kitchen, hall way and dining room. These fandevices may all be mated or paired to a first wall control unit so thatany RF messages sent from the first wall control unit (e.g., lighton/off, fan on/off, etc.) will be received an acted upon by all of thefan devices in the first group in unison. Additionally, the controlserver will identify all of these fan devices as being in the firstgroup and will allow the user to control the multiple fan devices in thefirst group at the same time. For example, a user may input via thewireless terminal device a group instruction to turn on all of the fansof the group in which case, all of the fans of the group will be turnedon at the same time or concurrently. A customer premise may include oneor more groups of fan devices. For example, while a first group of fandevices allow for the control of the fan devices in the first group suchas those fan devices on the first floor or a house, a second fan groupcan be used to control the fan devices on the second floor of the housewhich are included in a second fan device group. In addition to the fandevices in a group being controlled as a group, the fan devices of thegroup can also still be controlled as individual fan devices. Forexample, at a first time the fan device group lights on event commandmay be given and all of the lights on the fan devices in the group willhave their lights turned on. At a second later time a fan device lightoff command may be given to turn off a particular light on one of thefan devices in the group. While the light on that particular fan willturn off the lights on the remaining fan devices of the group willremain on. If a fan device group command to turn the lights off in thegroup is give the light for the individual fan device that is off willremain off while the lights on the remaining fan devices in the groupwill turn off. In this way, fan devices can be controlled both as agroup and individually.

In some embodiments, control of one or more fan devices at a customerpremise may be shared with one or more users. For example, control offan devices at a customer premise can be shared by parents and children,employees, and guests. In an exemplary embodiment a guest is givenpermission to control one or more fan devices in a customer premises.The owner or operator selects which fan devices the guest can controland inputs this information into the control server and/or the fandevice. The owner or operator of the customer premises at which the fandevices are located then sends an invite message to a guest's mobiledevice. In response to the invite the guest via his or her mobile devicewould, after authentication such as entry of a password provided by theowner or operator of the customer premises to the guest, be allowed tologin to an application running on the control server or the fan devicefrom which the guest could operate the fan device using the guest'smobile device. As previously discussed, the guest's access may berestricted to certain fan devices at the customer premises such as forexample allowing the guest to control the fan device(s) in the guestbedroom and/or living room while being restricted from controlling thefan devices in other areas of the customer premises. The owner oroperator of the customer premises also concurrently having the abilityto control the same devices as the guest. In this way, multiple usersmay control the same fan devices. When the owner or operator of thecustomer premises decides to end the guest's access to the system andcontrol of the fans device(s) the owner or operator of the customerpremises inputs a request or command to the control server and/or fandevice(s) indicating that the guest is no longer allowed to access thesystem and/or control the fan devices upon which the control serverand/or fan device prevents the guest from accessing the system, e.g., byno longer accepting the login credentials, e.g., user id or password, ofthe guest.

In some embodiments, the fan devices include a sleep mode in which theuser can set independent timers for when the fan of the fan device andwhen light of the fan device can be turned off e.g., after 45 minutesafter activation of sleep mode, so that when the sleep timer for the fanexpires the fan of the fan device turns off and when the sleep timer forthe light of the fan device expires, the light of the fan device willautomatically turn off. Additionally, a synch command activated from amenu presented to the user on the WiFi mobile device allows theindependent sleep mode timer for the fan and light of the fan device tobe synchronized so that if they are set to different time values theywill synchronized and will both turn off at the same time. Theindependent sleep timers being synchronized to the shorter time periodof either the fan sleep timer value or the light sleep timer value ofthe sleep timer values being synchronized.

LIST OF EXEMPLARY NUMBERED METHOD EMBODIMENTS Method Embodiment 1

A control method comprising: receiving, at a fan device including aradio frequency signal receiver and a WiFi interface, a first radiofrequency (RF) control signal from a control unit, said fan device andsaid control unit being located at a customer premises; implementing, atthe fan device, an operation in response to a first command communicatedby the first RF control signal; and operating the fan device tocommunicate to a server located outside the customer premises, via theWiFi interface, information indicating the operation implemented inresponse to the first command.

Method Embodiment 2

The method of Method Embodiment 1, wherein said fan device and saidcontrol unit are located in the same room.

Method Embodiment 3

The method of Method Embodiment 1, wherein said control unit is a wallmounted unit through which power is supplied to the fan device, saidfirst RF control signal being a wireless signal transmitted from an RFtransmitter in the control unit to an RF receiver in the fan device.

Method Embodiment 4

The method of Method Embodiment 3, wherein the control unit does notinclude a WiFi interface.

Method Embodiment 5

The method of Method Embodiment 1, wherein said first command is one of:a fan on command, a fan off command, a fan power state change command, afan speed up command, a fan speed down command, a fan direction changecommand, a light on command, a light off command, a light power statechange command, a light increase command, a light decrease command.

Method Embodiment 6

The method of Method Embodiment 1, wherein said RF control signal issent using an RF frequency which is not used for WiFi signals.

Method Embodiment 7

The method of Method Embodiment 6, further comprising: operating a WiFirouter located at the customer premises to receive a first WiFi controlsignal from a wireless terminal located at the customer premises, saidfirst WiFi control signal communicating a second command used to controlthe fan device; operating the WiFi router to communicate, via a WiFisignal, the second command to the fan device; and operating the fandevice to implement the second command.

Method Embodiment 8

The method of Method Embodiment 7, further comprising: operating the fanto communicate to the server located outside the customer premises, viathe WiFi interface, information indicating the operation implemented inresponse to the second command.

Method Embodiment 9

The method of Method Embodiment 8, wherein the second command iscommunicated from the wireless terminal to the fan device via the WiFirouter located in the customer premises without said second commandtraversing a network outside the customer premises.

Method Embodiment 10

The method of Method Embodiment 9, further comprising: operating theserver to receive a third command directed to the first fan device; andoperating the server to communicate the third command via the Internetand said WiFi router to the fan device.

Method Embodiment 11

The method of Method Embodiment 10, further comprising: operating theserver to update information about the state of one or more devices atthe first customer premises based on the third command communicated tothe fan device.

Method Embodiment 12

The method of Method Embodiment 11, wherein said updating of theinformation about the state of one or more devices at the first customerpremises is performed in response to transmitting the third command fromthe server.

Method Embodiment 13

The method of Method Embodiment 9, further comprising: operating theserver to generate a proposed normal device control schedule for thefirst customer premises from stored information indicating the state ofone or more devices at the first customer premises over a period of;communicate from the server the proposed device control schedule to adevice corresponding to the first customer premise; receive at theserver a message indicating approval of the proposed normal devicecontrol schedule for the first customer premises or a revised schedulefor the first customer premises; and storing as an approved normalcontrol schedule for the first customer premises the approved proposednormal device control schedule or the revised schedule.

Method Embodiment 14

The method of Method Embodiment 13, further comprising: operating theserver to control one or more devices at the first customer premisesbased on the stored approved normal device control schedule, said one ormore devices including the first fan device.

Method Embodiment 15

The method of Method Embodiment 14, wherein operating the server tocontrol one or more devices at the first customer premises based on thestored approved normal device control schedule includes transmitting acontrol signal from the server to the first fan device via the Internetand WIFi router to control the fan device to turn on at a time indicatedby said approved normal control schedule.

Method Embodiment 16

The method of Method Embodiment 13, further comprising: operating theserver to generate an away schedule to be used to control one or moredevice at the first customer premises when the customer indicates theyare away from the customer premises.

Method Embodiment 17

The method of Method Embodiment 16, wherein operating the server togenerate an away schedule includes generating said away schedule as afunction of a random function used to at least partially randomize theon or off times of one or more devices.

Method Embodiment 18

The method of Method Embodiment 17, wherein operating the server togenerate the away schedule includes using information about past deviceon and off status in combination with said random function to controlthe on and off times of at least one device, said on and off timesdeviating from historical on and off times by an amount of time whichdoes not exceed a set maximum amount of time and which is determined bysaid random function.

Method Embodiment 19

The method of Method Embodiment 16, further comprising; receiving, atthe server, a signal from a user indicating an away status; andswitching, at the server, from using the stored approved normal scheduleto using the stored away schedule to control the one or more devices atthe first customer premises.

LIST OF EXEMPLARY NUMBERED SYSTEM EMBODIMENTS System Embodiment 1

A system comprising: a fan device comprising: a fan motor; a radiofrequency (RF) signal receiver configured to receive radio frequency(RF) control signals from a control unit, said fan device and saidcontrol unit being located at a customer premises; a WiFi interface; afan motor control circuit configured to control the fan motor inresponse to a received first radio frequency control signal, said firstradio frequency control signal communicating a first command; and afirst processor configured to communicate to a server, located outsidethe customer premises, via the WiFi interface, information indicating anoperation implemented in response to the first command.

System Embodiment 2

The system of System Embodiment 1, wherein said fan device furthercomprises: a light; and a light control circuit configured to controlthe light in response to a received second radio frequency controlsignal, said second radio frequency control signal communicating asecond command; and wherein said first processor is further configuredto communicate to said server, via the WiFi interface, informationindicating an operation implemented in response to said second command.

System Embodiment 3

The system of System Embodiment 2, wherein said fan device and saidcontrol unit are located in the same room.

System Embodiment 4

The system of System Embodiment 2, further comprising said control unit;wherein said control unit includes an RF transmitter; and wherein saidcontrol unit is a wall mounted unit through which power is supplied tothe fan device, said first RF control signal and said second RF controlsignal being wireless signals transmitted from said RF transmitter inthe control unit to said RF signal receiver in the fan device.

System Embodiment 5

The system of System Embodiment 4, wherein the control unit does notinclude a WiFi interface.

System Embodiment 6

The system of System Embodiment 2, wherein said first RF control signalcommunicates one of: a fan on command, a fan off command, a fan powerstate change command, a fan speed up command, a fan speed down command,a fan direction change command; and wherein said second RF controlsignal communicates one of: a light on command, a light off command, alight power state change command, a light increase command, a lightdecrease command.

System Embodiment 7

The system of System Embodiment 2, wherein said first RF control signaland said second RF control signal are sent using RF frequencies whichare not used for WiFi signals.

System Embodiment 8

The system of System Embodiment 7, further comprising: a WiFi routerlocated at the customer premises, said WiFi router comprising: areceiver configured to receive a first WiFi control signal from awireless terminal located at the customer premises, said first WiFicontrol signal communicating a third command used to control the fandevice; a transmitter configured to communicate, via a WiFi signal, thethird command to the fan device; and wherein said first processor isconfigured to control at least one of the fan motor control circuit orthe light control circuit to implement the third command.

System Embodiment 9

The system of System Embodiment 8, further comprising: wherein saidfirst processor is configured to control the WiFi interface in said fandevice to send information indicating the operation implemented inresponse to the third command.

System Embodiment 10

The system of System Embodiment 9, further comprising: said wirelessterminal, wherein said wireless terminal includes: a WiFi interface; anda fan device control application configured to generate said thirdcommand in response to user input; and wherein the third command iscommunicated from the wireless terminal to the fan device via the WiFirouter located in the customer premises without said third commandtraversing a network outside the customer premises.

System Embodiment 11

The system of System Embodiment 10, further comprising: said server,wherein said server includes a second processor configured to: operatingthe server to receive a fourth command directed to the first fan device;and operating the server to communicate the fourth command via theInternet and said WiFi router to the fan device.

System Embodiment 12

The system of System Embodiment 11, wherein said second processor isfurther configured to: operating the server to update information aboutthe state of one or more devices at the first customer premises based onthe fourth command communicated to the fan device.

System Embodiment 13

The system of System Embodiment 12, wherein said updating of theinformation about the state of one or more devices at the first customerpremises is performed in response to transmitting the fourth commandfrom the server.

System Embodiment 14

The system of System Embodiment 10, wherein said second processor isfurther configured to: operating the server to generate a proposednormal device control schedule for the first customer premises fromstored information indicating the state of one or more devices at thefirst customer premises over a period of time; operate the server tosend the proposed device control schedule to a device corresponding tothe first customer premise; operate the server to receive a messageindicating approval of the proposed normal device control schedule forthe first customer premises or a revised schedule for the first customerpremises; and operate the server to store as an approved normal controlschedule for the first customer premises the approved proposed normaldevice control schedule or the revised schedule.

System Embodiment 15

The system of System Embodiment 14, wherein said second processor isfurther configured to: operating the server to control one or moredevices at the first customer premises based on the stored approvednormal device control schedule, said one or more devices including thefirst fan device.

System Embodiment 16

The system of System Embodiment 15, wherein said second processor isconfigured to: operate the server to send a control signal from theserver to the first fan device via the Internet and WIFi router tocontrol the fan device to turn on at a time indicated by said approvednormal control schedule, as part of being configured to operate theserver to control one or more devices at the first customer premisesbased on the stored approved normal device control schedule.

System Embodiment 17

The system of System Embodiment 14, wherein said second processor isfurther configured to: operate the server to generate an away scheduleto be used to control one or more device at the first customer premiseswhen the customer indicates they are away from the customer premises.

System Embodiment 18

The system of System Embodiment 17, wherein said second processor isconfigured to: generate said away schedule as a function of a randomfunction used to at least partially randomize the on or off times of oneor more devices, as part of being configured to operate the server togenerate an away schedule.

System Embodiment 19

The system of System Embodiment 18, wherein said second processor isconfigured to use information about past device on and off status incombination with said random function to control the on and off times ofat least one device, said on and off times deviating from historical onand off times by an amount of time which does not exceed a set maximumamount of time and which is determined by said random function, as partof being configured to operate the server to generate the away schedule.

System Embodiment 20

The system of System Embodiment 17, wherein said server furthercomprises: a receiver configured to receive a signal from a userindicating an away status; and wherein said second processor is furtherconfigured to control the server to switch from using the storedapproved normal schedule to using the stored away schedule to controlthe one or more devices at the first customer premises.

LIST OF EXEMPLARY NUMBERED APPARATUS EMBODIMENTS Apparatus Embodiment 1

A fan device controller including: an AC voltage input; an AC output forsupplying power to a fan device; an RF signal interface including an RFsignal transmitter for transmitting commands to a device to becontrolled; an RF controller for controlling the RF signal interface tosend control signals including one or more commands to said fan device;and a disconnect switch for disconnecting said AC output from said ACinput when said disconnect switch is switched to a disconnect state froma connect state.

Apparatus Embodiment 2

The fan device controller of Apparatus Embodiment 1, further comprising:a fan control input for turning a fan on or off; and a light controlinput for turning a light on or off.

Apparatus Embodiment 3

The fan device controller of Apparatus Embodiment 2, further comprising:a light up input coupled to said RF controller; and a light down inputcoupled to said RF controller.

Apparatus Embodiment 4

The fan device controller of Apparatus Embodiment 3, further comprising:a fan speed up input coupled to said RF controller; and a fan speed downinput coupled to said RF controller.

Apparatus Embodiment 5

The fan device controller of Apparatus Embodiment 4, further comprising:a fan reverse input coupled to said RF controller.

Apparatus Embodiment 6

The fan device controller of Apparatus Embodiment 5, further comprising:a DC power supply connected to said disconnect switch and to said RFcontroller, said DC power supply receiving AC power from said disconnectswitch and supplying DC power generated from said AC power to the RFcontroller.

Apparatus Embodiment 7

The fan device controller of Apparatus Embodiment 6, wherein switchingthe disconnect switch to a disconnect state cuts power to both the ACoutput and to said DC power supply thereby cutting power to a fan devicecoupled to said fan device controller and to the RF controller at thesame time.

Apparatus Embodiment 8

The fan device controller of Apparatus Embodiment 7, wherein said RFcontroller includes a processor; and wherein said processor isconfigured to: generate commands in response to input received via oneof the inputs included in said fan device controller; and control saidRF interface to transmit said commands in RF signals to the fan device.

Apparatus Embodiment 9

The fan device controller of Apparatus Embodiment 8, wherein said fandevice controller is configured to fit in an electrical box in a wall ofa customer premises.

The techniques of various embodiments may be implemented using software,hardware and/or a combination of software and hardware. Variousembodiments are directed to apparatus, e.g., fan devices, controlserver, WiFi router, control units, mobile devices. Various embodimentsare also directed to methods, e.g., method of controlling and/oroperating devices, e.g., control server device, mobile device, controlunits. Various embodiments are also directed to machine, e.g., computer,readable medium, e.g., ROM, RAM, CDs, hard discs, etc., which includemachine readable instructions for controlling a machine to implement oneor more steps of a method. The computer readable medium is, e.g.,non-transitory computer readable medium.

It is understood that the specific order or hierarchy of steps in theprocesses and methods disclosed is an example of exemplary approaches.Based upon design preferences, it is understood that the specific orderor hierarchy of steps in the processes and methods may be rearrangedwhile remaining within the scope of the present disclosure. Theaccompanying method claims present elements of the various steps in asample order, and are not meant to be limited to the specific order orhierarchy presented. In some embodiments, one or more processors areused to carry out one or more steps or elements of the describedmethods.

In various embodiments each of the steps or elements of a method areimplemented using one or more processors. In some embodiments, each ofthe steps or elements are implemented using hardware circuitry.

In various embodiments elements described herein are implemented usingone or more components to perform the steps corresponding to one or moremethods, for example, generating, sending, comparing, determining and/ortransmission steps. Thus, in some embodiments various features areimplemented using components or in some embodiments logic such as forexample logic circuits. Such components may be implemented usingsoftware, hardware or a combination of software and hardware. Many ofthe above described methods or method steps can be implemented usingmachine executable instructions, such as software, included in a machinereadable medium such as a memory device, e.g., RAM, floppy disk, etc. tocontrol a machine, e.g., general purpose computer with or withoutadditional hardware, to implement all or portions of the above describedmethods, e.g., in one or more elements. Accordingly, among other things,various embodiments are directed to a machine-readable medium, e.g., anon-transitory computer readable medium, including machine executableinstructions for causing a machine, e.g., processor and associatedhardware, to perform one or more of the steps of the above-describedmethod(s). Some embodiments are directed to a device, e.g., fan device,mobile device, WiFi device, wall unit controller, including a processorconfigured to implement one, multiple or all of the steps of one or moremethods of the invention.

In some embodiments, the processor or processors of one or more devices,e.g., control server, fan device, mobile device, wall control unit areconfigured to perform the steps of the methods described as beingperformed by the devices. The configuration of the processor may beachieved by using one or more components, e.g., software components, tocontrol processor configuration and/or by including hardware in theprocessor, e.g., hardware components, to perform the recited stepsand/or control processor configuration. Accordingly, some but not allembodiments are directed to a device, e.g., fan device, control unitdevice, mobile server, control server, WiFi router, with a processorwhich includes a component corresponding to each of the steps of thevarious described methods performed by the device in which the processoris included. In some but not all embodiments a device, e.g., fan device,control unit device, mobile server, control server, WiFi router,includes a component corresponding to each of the steps of the variousdescribed methods performed by the device in which the processor isincluded. The components may be implemented using software and/orhardware.

Some embodiments are directed to a computer program product comprising acomputer-readable medium, e.g., a non-transitory computer-readablemedium, comprising code for causing a computer, or multiple computers,to implement various functions, steps, acts and/or operations, e.g. oneor more steps described above. Depending on the embodiment, the computerprogram product can, and sometimes does, include different code for eachstep to be performed. Thus, the computer program product may, andsometimes does, include code for each individual step of a method, e.g.,a method of controlling a fan device, control unit device, mobileserver, control server, WiFi router. The code may be in the form ofmachine, e.g., computer, executable instructions stored on acomputer-readable medium, e.g., a non-transitory computer-readablemedium, such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), ROM (Read Only Memory) orother type of storage device. In addition to being directed to acomputer program product, some embodiments are directed to a processorconfigured to implement one or more of the various functions, steps,acts and/or operations of one or more methods described above.Accordingly, some embodiments are directed to a processor configured toimplement some or all of the steps of the methods described herein. Theprocessor may be for use in, e.g., a fan device, a communications devicesuch as a WiFi mobile device, a control unit, control server or otherdevice described in the present application.

Numerous additional variations on the systems, methods and apparatus ofthe various embodiments described above will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art in view of the above description and the claims whichfollow. Such variations are to be considered within the scope of theinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a fan motor; a fan motorcontrol circuit; a processor in electrical communication with the fanmotor control circuit; a radio frequency interface configured toreceive, at a first frequency, a signal; and a WiFi interface configuredto communicate at a second frequency that is different from the firstfrequency; wherein; the fan motor control circuit is configured to causethe fan motor to perform an operation in response to the signal; and theprocessor is configured to transmit, via the WiFi interface, to aserver, an indication corresponding to the operation.
 2. The system ofclaim 1 further comprising, when the signal is a first signal, theoperation is a first operation, and the indication is a firstindication: a light; and a light control circuit configured to cause thelight to perform a second operation in response to a second signalreceived by the radio frequency interface; wherein the processor isfurther configured to transmit to the server, via the WiFi interface, asecond indication corresponding to the second operation.
 3. The systemof claim 2 wherein: the first indication corresponds to an operationselected from the group consisting of: fan on, fan off, fan power statechange, fan speed-up, fan speed-down, and fan direction-change; and thesecond indication corresponds to an operation selected from the groupconsisting of: light on, light off, light power state change, lightincrease, and light decrease.
 4. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising a housing; wherein the fan motor, the fan motor controlcircuit, the processor, the radio frequency interface, and the WiFiinterface are disposed in the housing.
 5. The system of claim 1 furthercomprising a WiFi router comprising: a receiver configured to receive aWiFi control signal from a wireless terminal, the control signalcommunicating a command for controlling the fan motor; and a transmitterconfigured to communicate, via a WiFi signal, the command to the WiFiinterface; wherein the processor is further configured to cause the fanmotor control circuit to implement the command.
 6. The system of claim 5wherein the processor is further configured to cause the WiFi interfaceto send information indicating an operation implemented in response tothe command.
 7. The system of claim 6 further comprising, when the WiFiinterface is a first Wifi interface, the wireless terminal; wherein: thewireless terminal includes: a second WiFi interface; and a fan devicecontrol application configured to generate the command in response touser input; and the wireless terminal, the WiFi router, and theprocessor are configured for operation in a wireless local network suchthat the wireless terminal communicates the command to the processor viathe WiFi router without the command traversing the Internet.
 8. Thesystem of claim 1 further comprising, when the processor is a firstprocessor, the server; wherein the server includes a second processorconfigured to cause the server to: receive a command directed to thefirst processor; and communicate the command via the Internet and a WiFirouter to the first processor.
 9. The system of claim 8 wherein thesecond processor is further configured to cause the server to updateinformation about a state of a device that is in a wireless localnetwork based on the command.
 10. The system of claim 9 wherein thesecond processor is further configured to cause the server to update theinformation in response to transmitting the command from the server. 11.The system of claim 8 wherein the second processor is further configuredto cause the server to: generate a proposed normal device controlschedule for a device, comprising the fan motor, at a wireless localnetwork from stored information indicating states of the device over aperiod of time; send the schedule to the device; receive a messageindicating approval of the schedule; and store, as an approved normalcontrol schedule, the approved schedule.
 12. The system of claim 11wherein the second processor is further configured to cause the serverto: receive a revised schedule for the wireless local network; andstore, as the approved normal control schedule, the revised schedule.